Hi, Bye, and Lies
by VegaKeep
Summary: AU Where Xander didn't tell his lie to Buffy in Becoming.
1. He deserves another chance

Dedicated to a Rogue with somewhat bad aim, and a Sadistic B/V Shipper  
  
Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the plot. Fox could try to sue me, but I doubt it's worth going after a minimum wage worker.  
  
Hi, Bye, and Lies  
  
VegaKeep  
  
Sunnydale, California. May, 1998  
  
"What's the matter love?" the vampiress gloated. "Don't you think I'm prettier now? After all, you once told me that Darla was HOT."   
  
Her victim just looked at the soulless demon, while trying to come up with something to say. It was then that the man was inspired with a barb, from one of his favorite movie series.   
  
"Honey, you just got too damn ugly."  
  
The vampiress growled then charged at him in a blind rage, thinking of how she would enjoy swimming in his blood. It was these thoughts that made her oblivious to the fact that her victim was pulling out a crucifix and he pressed it into her face, burning her beautiful features.   
  
With one hand holding her face, she struck out with her other hand, backhanding him to the floor.  
  
"YOU ARE SO DEAD!!" she screamed, flailing for him during her blind strikes. Then she heard his voice. It was cold, but she could smell the pain in it.  
  
  
  
"I'm sorry, Cordelia. May you rest in peace..." the young man said, raising a stake.  
  
But Cordelia kicked him in the stomach, and then she ran off while thinking how he would pay for hurting her. Even ten Slayers wouldn't be able to protect him from her...  
  
The prey groaned as he picked himself up from the ground, dusting himself off. Then he became alert, waiting for Cordelia to attack him again. He waited a short time, but still she didn't strike.  
  
Realizing that Cordelia wasn't coming back he made his way to his prime target, the Slayer. "Buffy?" he called out to her.  
  
The blonde girl swiveled around. "Xander! What are you doing here?" was her response.   
  
He had to tell her. She deserved to know. "Willow's going to try and restore his soul."  
  
From the Slayer's face, a smile emerged. "Good," she said. "He deserves another chance..." and it was then that she entered the mansion, leaving Xander stunned.   
  
'Another chance?!?' he thought. 'Look at what he did to Ms. Calendar. And what about Cordelia?'   
  
Now that he had done it, Xander regretted telling Buffy the truth. She obviously wasn't going to go all out to save the world. She was going to fight a holding action against Angelus, and that was bad. Buffy wouldn't go for the win, while Angelus would do what he could to kill her.   
  
Xander finally felt disgust for his former hero, after nearly 18 months of knowing her. He didn't know now what he had seen in Buffy, let alone to have been in love with her.   
  
'So Angel can have his soul restored but Cordy can't, is that it?' he thought. That was so selfish of her. She was so concerned over Angel, that she was oblivious to the living.   
  
It wasn't Cordy that had burned down Oz's house, leaving him homeless and an orphan. It wasn't Cordy that had left Ms. Calendar in a coma, and without the use of her legs.  
  
'Okay, so let's say best-case scenario happens: his soul is returned to him, fine and dandy. But what about the next happy he gets? Who's Buffy gonna sacrifice the NEXT time we try to restore his soul? Will Joyce be next? Will I be able to protect Dawn from Angelus' next attempt at sexually assaulting her?'   
  
Anger filled Xander. Angelus had to be stopped. He followed after the Slayer, with only one thought banging around in his head; 'Angelus must die.' It was the only way this cycle would end, before it could even be repeated.  
  
The boy slipped past the vampires that were battling with Buffy and to his surprise, Spike was brawling with Angelus. Although he wanted to stay and watch, Xander knew he had to rescue Giles and Jenny. He made his way to the back chambers, praying that all those fantasy books he'd read weren't a waste of time.  
  
Fortunately for him, clichés did happen in real life and he came upon a bound Giles and a bed where the still body of Jenny Calendar rested.   
  
Looking at Giles, Xander fought to keep his dinner from leaving his stomach. The British man was a mess; his left eye was swollen shut, and his shirt was shredded. His entire torso was covered with cuts, many still fresh.  
  
"Giles?" the young man said, but it was pointless. The librarian refused to respond to his voice, except for a whimper. Xander untied Giles' restraints, and then moved in to check on Jenny.  
  
Luck was smiling on him. She was alive, even if just barely. He looked at her neck, and saw that someone had drank from her; blood covered her hands. Xander looked on the floor and found discarded sharp objects, blood still fresh on them.   
  
That was the final straw.   
  
'Angelus really is a sick bastard,' Xander thought furiously. Having Jenny unknowingly torturing the man she loved while in a coma, with he was drinking from her all the while. He was a real piece of work. Xander looked back at Giles, his mind made up.  
  
"Giles," he said again, shaking him.  
  
"Xander?" the other man said, as if seeing him for the first time in years.  
  
"Come on, I'm getting you out of here," the so-called useless member of the group said, lifting Giles out of the chair. He then picked up Jenny in his arms and with Giles following him as fast as he could, they exited the mansion.   
  
Xander gently laid Jenny into the Brit's arms, as they were deposited next to Oz's van. "Giles, how do we stop the portal destroying the world?" He needed to know, just in case Buffy did fail.  
  
"A-angel's blood. It, it opens and closes the portal..."  
  
Xander then turned around, and ran back into the mansion. Worst-case plan, Angel may have to die after all.  
  
He made his was back to the chamber, where Acathla rested. Buffy and Angelus were still going all out with each other but she was slowly gaining the upper hand and swung her sword at the vampire, who merely parried the blow.   
  
However, it was just a feint on Buffy's part and she decked him in the face – then followed through by kicking him in the shins. Grunting in pain, Angelus bent down; lowering his defense long enough for the Slayer to uppercut him back onto Acathla.  
  
Angelus got back up, his body language indicating no mercy; but then he stopped suddenly, and began to groan in pain, collapsing while calling out for Buffy. It was then that Xander knew Angel's soul had been restored.   
  
Buffy let her sword drop, lowered herself to her knees and hugged Angel, kissing him with animal-like ferocity. Angel responded by kissing her back, just as savagely.   
  
Xander couldn't believe it. He hadn't gotten his soul back for even a minute, and already he was in danger of losing it! Plus, neither of them was aware of the portal to Hell that had opened up behind them.  
  
It was now or never.   
  
Xander grabbed his pocketknife and a rock, and made his way to the lovers. They were so enraptured with each other that Angel and Buffy didn't hear him, nor expected it when he waylaid Buffy with the rock. As Angel saw his soulmate's head fall against his chest, he felt a pain in his throat.   
  
Instinctively, the vampire's hands went to his throat and immediately realized that his throat had been slit. The souled vamp looked up at the person who had done this act, and became furious as he discovered that the one person he had always looked down upon had done it.  
  
Then Angel felt a strange sensation in him. He looked down toward his chest and realized that Xander had put a wooden stake in his heart, and then he thought nothing more.  
  
Xander threw his bloodied knife into the portal and dived on top of Buffy to protect her, as it closed itself. Surprisingly, there was no explosion like he expected – and when he looked up, Acathla was gone.   
  
He really should stop watching action movies...  
  
Picking up Buffy in his arms Xander headed for the entrance to the mansion, where he helped a distraught Giles load Jenny and Buffy into Oz's van and drive them to Giles' home. But during the trip, he knew that he could 'never go home again', as the saying went.  
  
Buffy would never forgive him, once she found out what he'd done. She would probably kill him, and like literally.  
  
And hell, it wasn't like the police would be able to solve his murder. They were like the poster boys for 'incompetent civil servants'. Willow had always said...  
  
Then with a mental sigh, Xander realized his redheaded best friend would probably side with Buffy over this. After all, the Slayer was always right, and they got along better. And Willow always was a big sucker for romance. Especially the "star crossed lovers" idea of Buffy and Angel.   
  
Oz would also swing alongside with Willow; after all, she was his girlfriend. And Giles would be very glad if he was excluded, on account of he did annoy the British guy a lot. Or so Xander thought; Giles never did say much to him, so the odds were he'd side with his Slayer too.  
  
After putting Giles and Jenny to bed, he put Buffy on the couch, locked up Oz's van and walked for home after leaving the keys on Giles' kitchen table, wondering what he was going to do.   
  
There was nothing left for him now, except give Cordelia some closure. 


	2. Recrimations

When Buffy woke up the next day, her head aching the first thing out of her mouth was "Angel."   
  
Where was Angel? The last thing she remembered was hugging her boyfriend, then pain. What was she doing in Giles' house?   
  
Buffy immediately ran out the door and towards the mansion as fast as she could, tripping over debris in her blind rush until she arrived to where she had last seen him. The she saw a golden ring and dust. She knew who the dust had once been.  
  
The blonde girl refused to believe it. Who could have sneaked up on her, the Slayer? She began to look around for any kind of clue, but found nothing. 'It had to have been Spike. He's evil after all, and only he woulda done something this low...'  
  
It was then that she saw an object glinting in the corner. Buffy moved towards the object slowly, picking it up. Through her tears, she saw what it was.   
  
It was a pocketknife, with dried blood on it. A pocketknife, with the initials X.H. There was only one person she knew who had those initials, and Buffy couldn't believe it.   
  
Not only had she lost the love of her life, but she had also been betrayed. She fell to the floor wailing over her lost love, but the betrayal hurt just as much.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Willow Rosenberg was furious. All that trouble that had gone into cursing Angel, and it turned out to have been all for nothing. She found it hard to believe; yet on second thoughts...it was possible.   
  
Xander had killed Angel, after he was given his soul back. He was the only person capable of doing that.  
  
Willow knew he loved Buffy, but this…this was beyond moral behavior. It was cowardly. It was perverse. The love spell thing had also been bad, but this time he had gone too far. Buffy was crying her eyes out while he was probably sleeping in, dreaming of him and Buffy together.   
  
Well, Xander might be able to hide from Buffy but he couldn't hide from her. They'd grown up together. She knew how he thought and where he'd be.   
  
With Oz pushing her wheelchair, they made their way next door to his home. Oz then knocked on the door while Willow yelled out, "Xander Harris, you come out here right now!"  
  
For a short while nothing happened, and Willow screamed again, "Xander, I know you're in there. Don't make me come in there after you!" But silence was the answer. Oz was about to knock on the door again when Mrs. Harris opened the door, half-asleep.   
  
"Willow? It's nearly ten in the morning..."  
  
Willow's attitude immediately switched gears with Mrs. Harris. Sure her son was a jealous asshole, but his mom was one of the nicest people she knew, even if she couldn't cook.   
  
"Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Harris, but I'm looking for Xander," she said sweetly. The redhead had forgotten that Ariel Harris worked nights and slept all day.  
  
"Well, you won't find him here. He went out."  
  
"Do you know where?" Xander was never up early.  
  
"To his former girlfriend's house, you know the poor girl that died?" she said sadly. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he'd been in love with her. Such a shame..."  
  
"Thank you, Mrs. Harris." 'So, he's at Cordelia's? Okay, next stop...' Willow thought with determination. 


	3. Judgement

Chase Residence  
  
Talking to Cordelia's parents was maybe the hardest thing Xander had done in his life. He had believed that they would hold him responsible for Cordelia's death; after all, he had hung around with Buffy Summers, who was suspected to be involved with the various 'street gangs' in Sunnydale.   
  
But to Xander's surprise, they didn't blame him for Cordelia's 'gangland killing'. He had always thought that her Daddy hated him, and maybe suspected that he was a gold digger. However when he appeared at their home this morning, there was no death glare, no stern words, just gratitude. Gratitude for making her happy.   
  
Unbeknownst to Xander and the entire school, Cordelia had suffered from depression. It seemed that living up to and above people's expectations tends to make you wonder whether you're a person, or just an object.  
  
Something to look at like it belonged in the store display, to be admired at by some, or snickered at by others.  
  
Even though she and Xander had been at each other's throats half the time, what made her happy was that he listened to her. He wasn't a mindless sheep, or dating her because she was the most popular girl in school.  
  
He was with her because of her. The real her, the girl who – contrary to popular belief – did cry when she was hurt.   
  
One of the things that she'd loved about him was that he hadn't used her to improve his "loser" status. He'd had many opportunities, but never acted on it. Xander had been able to do what the Chase's and their money was never able to do; he'd made her happy. He'd made her feel like a person.  
  
A little more into the conversation, Xander heard his name being called from across the hallway. The three of them looked away from their spots, and saw a short youth with dyed hair pushing a red-haired girl in a wheelchair.  
  
"Willow?" he said cheerfully. "Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked while looking at Oz who just stared at him. 'One day I'll get some reaction out of you,' Xander thought with a sigh.  
  
"We need to talk, Xander!" Willow said, trying not to explode.  
  
"Okay," he said, a little confused at her tone. It looked like she wanted to be yelling at him.  
  
"Alone, Xander," she demanded.  
  
'Ah, right, I'm going to get a 'special' screening of the 'you killed Angel you jealous bastard' speech,' he then thought cynically.  
  
Xander looked at the Mr. and Mrs. Chase who nodded, and thanked him for coming by. Xander headed for the front door with Oz and Willow. After they left the mansion grounds, Xander looked at his best friend, wondering why she was looking at him exactly the way she did when he stole her Barbie. It still scared him.  
  
"What is it, Wills?" the male teenager said, although he already knew what this was about.  
  
"I have half a mind to kill you right here, for what you did to Buffy! Of all the stupid, selfish, jealousy-driven stunts…"  
  
"Hey, now. Just for your information, jealousy has nothing to do with it." Xander had to admit he hadn't expected her to find out so fast. He had expected her outburst this evening, not before noon.  
  
Willow just glared daggers at him.  
  
"Okay, maybe it looks like it – but it wasn't. Number one, what makes you think she'd have closed that portal after getting Angel back? If there's one thing I learned watching Star Trek, it's that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and all that. Also, what makes Angel so special that he deserved his soul back – but Cordelia didn't?"  
  
"Don't try and justify murder, Xander!"  
  
"He was already dead, Wills. You can't murder a corpse, right Oz?" Oz of course didn't answer. 'So much for guys sticking together,' Xander thought with another sigh.  
  
"Don't you dare bring him into this!" Willow seethed. "He's just lost his parents and home…"   
  
"Right, all thanks to Angelus, yeah," Xander finished for her.  
  
"So what are you going to do now, Xander? We all know you've always loved her. Are you going to comfort Buffy now that she's lost Angel? You're a real piece of work, if you are..."  
  
"No, Wills. Wake up here, the only people I'm comforting are the parents of my dead girlfriend," he responded, fighting back to hold the tears.   
  
Xander had known it wouldn't be easy. He knew that in staking Angel he would face a very pissed Slayer, and true he'd expected Willow to side with Buffy – but surely Willow would have realized he did what had to have been done?   
  
He hadn't expected for his best friend to completely turn against him like this. "Look, if it'll make you feel better I'll apologize to her. Hell, I'll even grovel..."  
  
"No you won't. I may not be trying to kill you right now because of our lifelong friendship, but that won't stop Buffy."  
  
"So what do you want me to do, then? I can't just get the magic dustpan and water and resculpt him, can I?"  
  
"Don't you get it? Your jokes are NOT gonna cut it now. Leave Xander, 'cause after what you did you have no friends in this town anymore. I'll convince Buffy to give you 48 hours as a head start, before we BOTH come after you."  
  
Hearing this come from his friend, Xander just stared at Willow and opened his mouth to protest, but realized that it would be pointless. It was impossible to win an argument with Willow; he had never been able to do so even when they were kids.  
  
"All right," he said in a tone of acceptance rather than defeat. "I'll go like the Gruesome Twosome," referring to Spike and Drusilla. That said Xander turned around and left, leaving Willow confused.   
  
The redhead hadn't been expecting his last few words. Even though she knew that he knew that he would lose the argument, Xander always tried. This wasn't like him at all. 


	4. Verdict

Harris Residence  
  
"MOM!" Xander hollered inside the house. "Mom?"  
  
"What is it, Alexander? I'm trying to get some sleep. I had a real hard time at the hospital..."  
  
"Mom, is there any way you can get me out of school?"  
  
"What?! Alexander, I will not have you wind up like your father. Is that what you want to be? A career sanitation worker?"   
  
Her face froze for a moment, "Is this about your girlfriend? It is, isn't it? Alexander, as long as you never forget the good things you had with her, it'll be all right. I mean, there'll be other girls. Mind you, I'm not saying you should replace your girlfriend tomorrow, but…"  
  
"Mom!!" he cried out a little panicked, "I know you've been up all night at work, but that has nothing to do with it. I just need a change of scenery. Let's not forget my last report card! I think it's best to get me away from the bad influence of Sunnydale. I mean, let's face it, there's that gang of PCP users and the violence. We can't also forget the Sunnydale Brawler passed out down the hall, can we?"  
  
"Alexander..."  
  
"Mom, I'm serious. If you want, you could send me to Uncle David and Aunt Kathy's. But I really need to leave. Please."  
  
Xander's mom looked at her little boy. She knew he was grown up now but she was his mother so he'd always be her little boy, and then she sighed...   
  
"Okay," Mrs. Harris finally said, "but only if he says it's alright."   
  
"Great, just let me get my wallet first though."  
  
"Whatever for?"  
  
"In case I have to bribe them to take me."  
  
Xander's mom just rolled her eyes. 


	5. Last call for Chicago

'What a desolate place,' Xander thought to himself, as he wandered down the streets of the town his Greyhound bus had stopped in.   
  
The bus to Chicago was having some difficulties, and therefore while the mechanics fixed the problem the travelers went on a sightseeing tour. Xander opted to go his own way, and soon came across a diner.   
  
'Interesting name, but fitting,' the former Sunnydaler thought to himself, as he entered the place. He saw a vacant booth in the corner and made his way to it, quickly sitting down.   
  
Xander was so immersed in taking in his surroundings that he neglected to notice the blonde waitress hand him a menu. He looked at her, and saw one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen.  
  
"What's your pleasure?" she asked.  
  
"All the kids we can handle...I mean, food. Yeah, nice wonderful filling food," he said speaking without thinking. His brain was going to kill him one of these days.  
  
The waitress just looked at him.  
  
He looked back at her.  
  
"Oookay," the waitress answered, while giving him a look that showed she was annoyed.  
  
"Uh…I'm real sorry. Whenever I see a beautiful girl, I sorta tend to just blurt out my thoughts. Can we please try that again?"  
  
"All right, but can the pickup lines. It's bad enough; guys old enough to be my father do it. What'll you have?"  
  
"Uhhh…I'm not real sure. Say, how about the special? But from what it's called, is it edible?"  
  
The waitress put her hand to her mouth to stop a giggle, saying, "I don't know, but I guess we'll find out. Anything to drink?"  
  
"Water, please."  
  
"What, no soda?"  
  
"I'm afraid to ask what'll be in it."  
  
"Funny, but our food isn't that bad. Millions served…"  
  
"Without hospital stay, right?"  
  
"Only if someone gets shot. But that won't happen here."  
  
"Why not? Too beautiful to die?"  
  
"Are you trying to flatter me?"  
  
"Flatter? Nah. I'm just trying to sweep you off your feet."  
  
"Keep sweet-talking me like that, and I'll just have to have you buy me dinner," she said, eyes sparkling.  
  
"Guess I will, but won't that get you in trouble?"  
  
"Trouble? For socializing with you, right? That won't be a problem. My best friend's parents own this joint."  
  
"I'll hold you to that. As a matter of fact, I'm sure you need your lunch break now, right? What'll you have?"  
  
"Um…uh…"  
  
"Look, no funny business. And no strings attached. Besides, I'm only in town for a few hours, so it wouldn't work out."  
  
"Pretty confident of yourself, aren't you?"  
  
"Gotta be. I'm Xander," and he held out his hand.  
  
The waitress took his hand and shook it. "Maria," then her face got red when Xander kissed the top of her hand.  
  
"Pleasure to meet ya."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
A couple of hours later, Maria was having a long goodbye with Xander. It was ridiculous for them to try and develop a relationship, after only meeting today. So he just hugged her goodbye, holding her. To others they looked like departing lovers, but both knew better.  
  
"Last call for Chicago," the PA system announced.  
  
"That's me," Xander stated, knowing that she knew. She nodded and they both walked to his bus. She gave him a quick kiss on his lips, which lasted for a few precious seconds then he broke it off and boarded the bus.  
  
"Write me," Maria muttered.  
  
"I will," he said, turning around briefly.   
  
Xander then moved down the aisle and got in his seat, sighing while wondering whether or not he'd ever meet her again. The bus engines revved up and began to move when Xander finally remembered something. He'd forgotten to get her mailing address.   
  
And he doubted the bus would stop now. Oh well, it wasn't like he would forget the name of this place. 'I mean, who could forget the famous Roswell, New Mexico?' 


	6. New Start

Chicago, Illinois. Gibson Residence  
  
"Okay, kid," David Gibson stated, as he led Xander down the hall. "Here's where you'll sleep," the man indicated, as he opened a door and descended some stairs.  
  
"Uh, Uncle Dave?" Xander said, appalled by the conditions of his new dwelling. "It's a cellar!"  
  
"You're pretty smart kid, but it was at the request of your new aunt."  
  
"New aunt??!! What do you mean by new aunt? Where's Aunt Kathy?"  
  
"Turns out that Uncle Dave wanted a trophy wife. It's Aunt Buffy now Harris, and like it or not your ass is mine!" she said, her dark tone indicating what she had in store for him.   
  
The blonde then said, "Ever heard of Cinderella, Xander? Well, I don't know about you but I'm gonna enjoy having you slave for me. And the best part is, there is no fairy godmother in this story," as she nodded at her guards.   
  
Clown guards, armed with whips and stupid grins. Xander looked at what his new life had become, and then he began to laugh.   
  
Buffy and the others began to look at him oddly, and then their expressions changed when the boy suddenly brandished a pair of handguns...   
  
And then Xander woke up.   
  
"Man, even in my dreams she's coming after me. Well, guess that's preferable to her actually being here." Xander then looked over at his alarm clock, and saw the time. It was 5:51am.   
  
His first day in school didn't start until 8 am. Part of him wanted to go back to sleep, but then he remembered some song lyrics sung by Cheech Marin...  
  
"Mexican Americans don't like to get up early in the morning, but they have to. So they do it real slowww."   
  
Xander began to laugh to himself while saying, "Think it applies to every American," and he got out of bed. He was going to have a long day ahead of him.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
When Xander finally arrived at Ness High, he was surprised by the strange looks he got from the student body. 'Looks like they've never seen Hawaiian shirts before,' he thought.   
  
He then made his way to the principal's office. The former Slayerette didn't know why, but it looked like he wanted to greet him personally, then he realized why the man probably wanted to see him.   
  
Snyder, the bastard, had probably sent his record here sooner than he'd expected. Xander tensed, as his mind looked for the right excuses. Working under pressure seemed to be his specialty.   
  
He gulped, and knocked on the door. A "Come in," was the response; Xander opened the door and strode into the principal's office.   
  
"Ah, you must be Mr. Harris. Please come in, shut the door."  
  
"Thank you, sir. Uh, I hope you don't mind my asking, but what is this about? There's no way I can be in trouble yet. I mean, I just got here."  
  
"Actually, Mr. Harris, trouble is why you're here," the older man said, while holding a manila envelope. He tossed it to Xander, where it landed non-elegantly before him on the desk. "Feel free to look through it, young man. I'm sure it pretty much speaks for itself."  
  
"Uh, Mister…"  
  
"Principal Chapman."  
  
"Principal Chapman, what exactly is it that I'm looking for?" he said, puzzled.  
  
"Well, for starters, your academic record. Not the worst one I've seen, granted, but it makes even the lousiest student here look like the valedictorian! Then there are your SAT scores, as well as your exemplary record for detention. We also can't forget your involvement with your hometown's street gangs, can we?"  
  
"Involvement with street gangs?" Xander tried to look innocent.  
  
The principal shrugged, and lost the hostility. "Well, that's what your counselor suspected. However, I tend to believe in the "don't judge a book by its cover" rule. Hopefully you'll prove me right, Mr. Harris."  
  
Chapman paused, then said, "Now, considering that there's only a month of classes left this year, I think it would be in your best interests to take additional time in studying rather than attend any form of events here that cover things you have no idea about. I've also taken the time to give you the opportunity at getting to know the place better. Therefore, a student will be showing you around."   
  
Chapman then touched a button on his intercom, and in walked in an older student of about 5'10 with light brown hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt with the school mascot on the front, a ferret.  
  
"Principal Chapman, you asked to see me?"  
  
"Yes, Chris. This is Alexander Harris. I'd like you to show him around the school: where his classes are, the gym, lunchroom, and anything else you think he may need to know."  
  
The student looked over at Xander, and gave him a sympathetic grin. "Sure, no problem. Do you have his schedule, so I can show him exactly which rooms to go to?"  
  
"Yes, Ms. Vachs has a copy waiting for you." Chapman said, dismissing them. The two students began to exit Chapman's office, but were stopped by his voice. "Remember Harris, keep out of trouble and you'll do fine here." Xander gave Chapman a weak smile, then left the office.  
  
The two stopped to pick up the transcript on the way out of the office. Glancing at the paper, Chris then led them down one of the empty halls of lockers.  
  
"I figured I should show you your locker first, and go from there," Chris said stopping in front of one of the lockers. "This little sheet they stapled to the top has your locker number and the combination. Don't worry about losing it; just ask Ms. 'Hot to Trot' Vachs to look it up for you."   
  
He then leaned in closer and whispered conspiratorially, "Make sure you're nice and polite to her because she can smell indiscretions, like tardies, wandering around without a hall pass, and detention slips disappearing before they reach the principal. Just don't do it too often."  
  
"Personal experience?"  
  
He replied with a wide smirk, "Moi? My record says I'm a model student." Both laughed.  
  
Chris walked him to his first couple of classes, but at the fourth classroom, a head of bright red hair caught Xander's eye as they glanced through the door window.   
  
The girl had her head turned from him, watching the teacher in the front of the class. She had it cut short and was sitting seemingly entranced while listening to the lecture. But as if she knew he was looking at her, she turned around and for a second her eyes and Xander's locked.   
  
Chris noticed his attention on the girl, and quickly pulled him from the window. "Don't bother, Alex. She's part of the popular crowd and no offense, but you don't seem to me to be her type."  
  
Xander accepted what Chris said. Even though he'd dated Cordelia, he never became popular – but then again, it wasn't like he cared about that. The thing that really gnawed at him was that that the girl he'd stared at felt familiar. 


	7. New Man

Chris was really enjoying the moment. Yesterday he'd shown the new guy, Alex, around the campus and today was his first real day in class. In other words, he had to do the lame introduction ritual.   
  
He had to hand it to him; the kid was a quick learner. Thanks to the soon-to-be-departing senior, the junior had changed overnight, tossing aside his old fashion sense for a new one. Nothing too fancy, just clothes that didn't color clash. Sometimes, he didn't really understand Californians...   
  
But the one thing that kind of irked Chris was that Alex hadn't listened to his advice. Ever since he'd sat down in class, the new boy had just kept looking at the redheaded girl from yesterday.   
  
What Chris did know about her was that she was one of the most popular students in the school, and was due to become the most popular when she became a senior next year. Well, he did try to warn him.   
  
But the truth was he had no chance in getting a date with her, let alone the time of day. The snob crowd associated only amongst themselves, no exceptions. Chris kept observing her, trying to find some faults about her to warn Alex about and spare him the agony of her shooting him down.  
  
When the teacher was done with the lecture about the Gettysburg Campaign, she then asked Xander to introduce himself to the class. Xander asked if he could do it sitting down, but was meet by the teacher's glare.   
  
Sighing, he rose and all eyes fell upon him. The classroom was silent except for a creaking desk, as a student tried to get comfortable. Chris saw the girl start to go over her notes, uninterested.  
  
'Typical,' thought Chris.  
  
"Well, I might as well get started with my name," Xander said nervously. He had come to the conclusion that since he was starting over new, he might as well have a new name. "I'm Alexander Harris, but you can call me Alex."  
  
As Xander said his name, Chris noticed the redhead lift her head quickly and looked at Alex, very interested.   
  
'Must like the name,' Chris thought.  
  
Alex just gave a brief introduction, his age that he was from California, how he didn't like public speaking and how he loved Twinkies. Xander then finished his introduction and made his way back to his seat, hoping that he didn't make a fool of himself, unaware that the redhead was looking at him with her brown eyes.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
The remainder of the school year came and went by quickly for Xander, considering that there was only a month left. Without his late-night forays and after school "activities", Xander was able to catch up with his studies and improve his test scores.   
  
Of course he didn't become an A student, but what he was proud of was that this time his lowest grade was a D+ and his highest was a B. The things that hadn't left him from his time as a "soldier", was his discipline and planning. He began to rethink his belief that he had made a mistake in leaving Sunnydale.   
  
But the one thing Xander could have done without, were the rumors that circulated about him.   
  
Namely that he was a drug dealer, or listened to Ricky Martin and N-Sync. That he'd had to leave his old school after he was found sleeping with the school librarian, who was a man.   
  
Actually, that one got a mixed reaction from Xander as he thought of Giles actually being gay. That was a funny picture, but it filled him with horror as he saw himself and Giles together...  
  
Then there were the gang rumors that had him being wanted in Los Angeles, or San Diego. Or that he drove a stolen car every week, or that he had to skip town after killing a friend's boyfriend who'd happened to be a rival gang member.   
  
Xander had of course laughed at the rumors, but that last one was done nervously.  
  
When the school year finished, Xander fell into a new routine. Rather than go out and party with his friends (considering that now he had none), Xander went to work for his uncle in construction – learning carpentry, plumbing, and electricity, even working for the city in some cases.  
  
Working also provided the boy with some important things. The first was a skill that gave him the self-confidence he needed, as well as his own spending money. But most important, was a family.   
  
His Uncle Dave and Aunt Kathy actually helped him with his schoolwork, and ensured that he improved. Both spent time with him, joking that they were really practicing on him when they had their own children to make sure nothing went wrong.  
  
But what really mattered to Xander was that there were no vampires, and for that he was glad. After what had happened to Cordelia, he wanted nothing more to do with vampires, demons, and Slayers. 


	8. Revelations

Summer came and went, and Xander returned to Ness High for his senior year and for once he was actually eager to start school. Of course, the real reason wasn't because it was the final year of school.   
  
Instead, it was a certain redheaded girl from his history class. He knew he had seen her before, but from where he didn't know and that haunted him.   
  
Unfortunately, Xander didn't have her in any of his classes and after a week he hadn't seen nor heard from her. Of course, his chivalrous nature may have had something to do with it, considering it had already landed him in serious trouble amongst the popular and jock crowds.  
  
It had all started on the first day in English class. Members of the athletics team were bullying a small group of dweeby-looking students. At first, Xander did nothing and silently applauded them when they actually shot back a barb back at the players.  
  
Of course, being talked back to by the "undesirables" was something the team captain was not going to tolerate – so he punched the student, sending him down and the room became quiet.  
  
That was when Xander stood up from his seat and yelled for the jock to stop, causing the entire classroom to start murmuring.   
  
Because, nobody ever told those guys to do anything.   
  
The large student looked at Xander, smiling and walked towards the boy, where he then swung at his target. Connecting with his jaw while saying, "Mind your own business!" to him.  
  
But to his surprise, Xander didn't go down. Instead he found himself slugging the jock in the face with his left, and then followed through with an uppercut with his right. The jock was a little dazed by Xander's retaliatory attacks, but he was still able to fight.   
  
Xander, on the other hand, was amazed. He hadn't expected to pack a strong punch. It looked like going to the gym with his Uncle Dave, hadn't been a waste of his summer...  
  
Before the antagonist was able to regroup Xander launched his right knee into his enemy's crotch, then elbowed the back of his neck – causing the larger student to fall down cold. As Xander was trying to recover from the fact that he'd actually beat someone bigger than him, he started heaving from breathlessness.  
  
But before he could sit back down, he felt a hand land on his shoulder. Xander looked back, and saw that it was the teacher who just told him to head straight for the principal's office.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
It was just one surprise after another for Xander, as the principal didn't actually yell at him but in a way congratulated him for sticking up for his fellow student. However, that didn't excuse Xander from fighting in class.   
  
As a result Xander became the first student of the year to get detention, as well as a warning from Chapman not to let it happen again. By the end of the day, Xander had become popular – but not in the way he wanted.   
  
The popular crowd avoided him like the plague for daring to defend the "undesirables", and challenging the ruling system. Xander had remembered from Chris that the redhead was part of that clique, and after that day she would be hostile to him.   
  
The jock crowd, on the other hand, glared daggers at Xander for attacking and humiliating one of their own in front of them and the student body. They had confronted Xander in the cafeteria, and warned him to beware of them.   
  
But not all was bad for the former Scooby member. Word of what he had done quickly reached the "undesirables", and he unknowingly garnered a following of guardians who did what they could to alert him of any potential attacks as well as any assistance he would need.   
  
After a week had passed, Xander had become somewhat famous. Among those it counted he was unpopular, but among the student body he was just another student, and always he kept an eye out for the redhead.  
  
And when Xander finally met her, it was not under circumstances he would have liked.  
  
He had gone to the newest and hottest nightclub, trying to make some friends and meet new people. It wasn't like the Bronze, but then again the Bronze wasn't as big as the Acropolis.   
  
The Acropolis definitely earned its name. It had three levels, and was built underground. There was enough room that the "nerds" and other undesirables could be given a sufficiently wide berth.   
  
But despite the spacing, Xander was still unable to find a girl to talk to. 'Guess my rep precedes me,' he thought wryly to himself.   
  
The boy sat at a table alone, wallowing in his misery, trying not to remember Cordelia when out of the blue a blonde in a tight black leather dress came up to him. "Need some company?" she asked in a friendly tone.  
  
"Do I?" Xander responded rather excitedly, once again saying the first thing that came to mind. Smiling, the blonde sat down next to him while Xander bought her a drink.   
  
After getting to know Yvette a little more, she asked him if he wanted to go somewhere else. Xander couldn't believe his luck, and readily agreed.  
  
Giving him a wicked grin, Yvette led him out the back of the Acropolis where upon immediately after exiting she began to attack him with her mouth, hungrily taking in his lips, and releasing her tongue. Then he heard her say something completely different, than what her actions indicated.  
  
"Too bad you won't get to meet the real me," Yvette said to Xander.   
  
Puzzled, Xander pulled back from Yvette and his heart froze while his blood turned cold. Yvette's face had shifted to the game face of a vampire.  
  
"You don't want to eat me," Xander pleaded, trying not to panic.  
  
"Oh, no? And why shouldn't I eat you?" the vampiress asked, playing along.  
  
"Well, for starters I've got low blood sugar. Not exactly a sweet meal for you," Xander said. But before Yvette could continue the verbal sparring, a new voice was heard.  
  
"Excuse me, but do you really think an alley is the best place to make out?" a new voice asked. It was female.  
  
Yvette's face reverted back into its human form. "Not a sound," she whispered to Xander, "Or she dies!"   
  
Xander just nodded while his mind raced for a way to get out of this new mess, struggling to contain his hatred of vampires. 'First Jesse, now Cordelia. Why can't they leave me alone?' he thought.  
  
Smiling Yvette turned around, giving Xander a clear look at his "rescuer". 'Oh no,' he thought.  
  
It was her. The redhead he'd been looking for. She was wearing a bright orange knee-length dress and black boots.  
  
As Xander looked at her more he kept trying to find a reason why she was familiar, but was brought out of his thoughts when Yvette said to Red, "Well Lover Boy and me couldn't contain our excitement. You know how it is between young teenagers, so if you don't mind, we'd like to pick up where we left off..."  
  
"Oh I'm sorry," Red answered, but before she could say more the blonde's date tackled her to the ground while yelling at herself to get out of here. The redhead just looked on curiously, at the change of events.  
  
As Red watched the struggle, Xander was trying his best to wrestle with the vampiress and give Red the time to escape. He pulled back his fist and let loose with everything he had, but Yvette merely laughed at his attempts to fight her.   
  
She grabbed him by his jacket and slammed him into the wall. Lifting his head, the senior saw Yvette walking towards Red. Getting up, he was about ready to charge at Yvette when he noticed that Red hadn't screamed or shown any sign of fear.   
  
Instead she threw a hard left to Yvette's face and stuck a wooden stake in the demon's heart. Smiling at her handiwork, Red turned to Xander.   
  
As usual, the former Slayerette spoke before thinking. "So you're the newest thing in Slayers, huh? Um, how do you feel about leather pants?"  
  
The redhead just looked at him and said, "Please. Just because I'm a Slayer, doesn't mean I should dress like a tramp! Besides, how'd you know what I am?"   
  
The girl was confused that he knew what she was, since her Watcher had told her to keep her existence secret. Nobody should even know of her existence.  
  
Xander was about to respond when he finally realized why she was familiar. It was so obvious, that he felt stupid. "You know, you look exactly like..."  
  
Red took in a breath of air "The girl from 'She's All That', I've heard it Xander."  
  
Xander was about to continue the conversation, when he froze. How did she know his old name? He only went by Alex now, and therefore nobody around here should know.   
  
Red said, "Don't you recognize me, Xander?" in a cold tone. Xander was still reeling from the shock and wasn't prepared when she pushed him against the wall, and restrained his hands behind his back.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?"  
  
Red just coldly said, "I'm taking you in for murder, Harris."  
  
"Murder? What the hell are you talking about?"  
  
"Does the name 'Angel' ring any bells?" she continued, manner still cold. "I'm disappointed. I never expected you to end up committing murder..."  
  
"Who the hell are you?" he demanded. How did the Slayer know who he was, what he'd done? More importantly, did she know Buffy – and if so, was she on her way?  
  
But Red just said in a disappointed tone, "You mean you've forgotten me? You were my first boyfriend. You were my first kiss, like I was yours." She pressed him against the wall, harder.  
  
'She's nuts,' Xander thought. 'Cordelia was my first kiss, and that was months ago. No, hold on here; girls think differently than guys. Cordelia was my first real kiss, but she wasn't my first…oh, NO, it can't be...'  
  
"Still can't remember, Xander? Well, how about this? I'm the one who named you," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice.  
  
'It is her,' Xander thought. Before he'd met Red, he had gone by Alexander; but she'd thought Xander was better.  
  
Now he remembered her name. Alyssa. It was Alyssa Friedman, and she was also Willow's cousin. 


	9. The Call

'Great, just what I needed. A Slayer playing Boba Fett. Wonder how much I'm worth?' Xander thought sarcastically. But it didn't make sense to him. He remembered seeing a movie where a cop said, "No body, no murder."   
  
And Deadboy may have been a walking corpse, but trying to prove a pile of dust had been Angel wouldn't hold up in court or with the prosecutor's shrink.  
  
Still, from his experiences with Buffy and Kendra, Slayers tended to have a 'slay first and ask questions later' mentality. So he had to get out of this and somehow explain himself, before he really got hurt.  
  
Then it occurred to him, she was a rookie. Sure Alyssa could kill vampires, but she didn't really have much experience and wouldn't expect him to pull anything, especially after she'd already proved she was stronger then him.   
  
The redhead pulled him off the wall roughly and turned him around to face her, pushing him back against the wall.  
  
"So Alyssa, how's the Slayage thing working out for you? Does the Council include dental cover nowadays?"  
  
"Still with the jokes. You really haven't changed, have you Xander?" the new Slayer smirked.  
  
"Actually, I have. Got bigger, a little stronger."  
  
"And a lot more talkative," Alyssa said with a little warmth. "How'd you know I'm the Slayer?" she finished, reverting back to her cold tone.  
  
"What's it worth to you?"   
  
Alyssa just sighed. "Why you'd do it, Xander?" she said changing the subject, her voice a mixture of ice and sadness. "Was it jealousy, like Willow said?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, sure it was. His hair was better combed than mine, and he used hair gel."  
  
'Yep, still the same Xander,' Alyssa thought. 'Looks like it was pointless doing it the nice way. Time to crank up the pressure.' "Look Xander, it's obvious you know something about Slayers. So I'm willing to bet you also know how strong they can be. So you either talk now, or you can help me with my training."  
  
"Uh, Alyssa..."  
  
"Yes, Xander?" she beamed with pride. Her bluff had worked. She didn't really want to hurt him.  
  
"You really should look behind you."  
  
"Xander, how dumb do you think I am?"  
  
"Right, you're too smart for me Alyssa. Damn..."   
  
It was then that the new Slayer heard the sound of a boot hitting something metallic. Alyssa quickly turned around, and was meet with a punch to her face. She staggered back a little from the punch, seeing stars, when she heard the now all-too-familiar sound of a vampire being staked.   
  
She looked for Xander, and was able to just barely see him turning at the corner of the alley as he ran away from an angry Slayer.  
  
Alyssa just couldn't believe it. Here she'd thought Xander was trying to pull the oldest trick in the book, and he had been telling the truth the entire time! He may have changed in some ways, but he was still the same old Xander.   
  
Keeping an eye out for anymore of the fang gang, Alyssa made her way home while thinking back to the events from last week.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Xander just still couldn't believe it. Willow's cousin Alyssa was here, and she looked exactly like Rachael Leigh Cook but with red hair! Then there was also her being the newest Slayer, but it was strange. Why weren't his former friends with her, when Alyssa had attempted to apprehend him?   
  
It was obvious that Willow now knew he was here, but the murder charge? What in the hell was going on?   
  
Xander's mind started thinking on how he could get out of this one. One thing he knew from working with Buffy was that Alyssa would most likely punch things first, have her Watcher ask questions…  
  
Her Watcher! That's what he had to do. Talk to Alyssa's Watcher, so he or she could straighten things out.   
  
Besides, the Watcher would no doubt be curious as to how he knew about the Slayer. But finding the Watcher was out of his league. It wasn't like this one would be the school librarian. But luckily, he did know some people who would be able to find the Watcher.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
When Alyssa arrived home, she immediately went upstairs to her room wondering on how to proceed. One thing for sure, was that she had blown it. Xander was really going to be on guard now. She looked over at a picture on her dresser. It was of two redheaded girls, and a brown-haired boy.   
  
All three were smiling, but the boy and one of the redheads seemed to be smiling at each other rather than at the cameraman. It was hard to believe six years had passed, since the photo was taken. Six years since she'd last visited them, that summer.   
  
Even though her cousin and Xander had called it quits after Xander stole her Barbie, they were still best friends. Well, when she first saw Xander she also saw what her cousin saw in him.   
  
But the one moment that she would never forget, were the stolen kisses they'd shared in Willow's backyard. That's something you don't forget, your first kiss and your first boyfriend.  
  
When she'd heard the new student announce his name, Alyssa had been stunned. Xander Harris here? Why was he here, and if it was him why was he going by the name of Alex?   
  
The mystery had intrigued her a bit but she'd had other problems to deal with, specifically the social events that were going on at school.   
  
Then there was the most recent turn of events; specifically being that the week before her birthday she'd found out that she was the Slayer. Alyssa had practically forgotten about Alex Harris with all of these occurrences, until her cousin had called her up two weeks ago for her sixteenth birthday.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Alyssa?" her mom called out. "Telephone!"  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"It's a surprise. Trust me, you'll like it."  
  
"Sure I will," she said sarcastically. She picked up the receiver, "Hello?"  
  
"Lyssa?"  
  
"Willow? Oh my God, how are you? It's been a while."  
  
"Hey, it's been three years since I last visited you. Happy Birthday, by the way."  
  
"Thanks, Will." It was then that she remembered that new guy in class, Alexander Harris. She had to make it casual. "So Willow, did you finally tell Xander what you feel for him?"   
  
Now Alyssa had been prepared to hear Willow confess that she hadn't, or some other excuse. What she hadn't expected was hearing Willow's voice tone change.  
  
"Alyssa, don't ever mention that bastard's name to me again!"   
  
'What?' "Willow, what's wrong? What did Xander do this time?" Alyssa didn't understand her cousin. She'd always defended the boy she loved. What did he do this time?  
  
"He murdered my best friend's boyfriend in cold blood, then he just skipped town to God knows where..."  
  
"Xander committing murder? Willow, are you sure? I'm sorry, but Xander doesn't seem the type to commit murder to me..."  
  
"Oh, but it was him. See, there was this girl he was in love with but she rejected him for her boyfriend, Angel. Xander was very jealous over what happened. He never disguised his dislike for Angel; and when he and my friend Buffy had their problems, Xander killed Angel while his back was turned."  
  
Alyssa was at loss for words. The kindest person she'd known was a cold-blooded murderer now? "Do you know where he is, Willow?"  
  
"No. I haven't been able to find out where he went. But I mean, where could he go? Most of his family lives in Los Angeles, and from what he told me they don't even like him."  
  
The conversation that was supposed to have been short took more than an hour, and by the time it was over Alyssa had lost all respect she'd had for Xander Harris. But what was he doing in Chicago?  
  
Well, it was obvious. They would look for him in the closest largest city. Not in a large, far-off city. Very clever of him.   
  
But he hadn't counted on her being here. Now she just had to find him and make him pay for hurting Willow, 'cause nobody, nobody messed with her family. 


	10. HunterPrey

"Talk to me, Weasel. What do you have so far?"  
  
"To be honest, Alex, plenty. But nothing on what you're looking for. Granted, Alyssa Friedman isn't that hard to lose track of. But what you're asking for is something unusual."  
  
"And it's unusual, because?"  
  
"Finding out which guy she's interested in is easy. Locating her favorite hangouts isn't real hard. But finding out if she's recently visited anyone with British documents, isn't gonna be a walk in the park!"   
  
"Well, they call you Weasel 'cause you can weasel your way into information. Just do your best, pal. That's all I ask."  
  
"No problem, Alex. Hey, it's the least I can do for the guy who agrees that having hair is a factor in who was the best captain of the Enterprise."  
  
Xander grinned before turning around to leave, thinking back on how he'd averted a school riot by the Trekker Club. A riot that was breaking out, over which Enterprise captain was better.   
  
Xander knew Kirk was the best, and he agreed that Riker was better than Picard. The Riker factor was what had silenced the bloodlust, and some of the nerds had even started calling Xander 'The Vulcan Master' for mediating the dispute.  
  
As he headed for the door, Xander heard a sudden commotion coming from a table. He turned around and made his way to it and saw five Trekkers that were engaged in a tabletop war game. One complete with painted Star Trek models.   
  
There were four guys and a girl playing the game, and from what Xander was able to make out, two of the guys were angry with another one of the players while the girl and another player just smiled at each other as the drama unfolded. Xander tried to remember their names and they came back to him. B.A., his cousin Sara, Bob, Dave, and Brian.   
  
"Damn it, Brian, why are you picking on me for? We're supposed to have a cease-fire, while we waste Dave!"  
  
"You had a peace treaty with the Klingons? You were supposed to help my Romulans topple Bob's Klingon Empire!"  
  
"Sorry, guys. But the Borg don't negotiate. We assimilate. We just needed to get our weapons within range of your fleet. The only peace we were talking about was the 'rest in peace' type."  
  
Xander quickly left the room, before a chair could be thrown. 'It just had to be these guys,' he thought wearily. Sometimes they took the game way too seriously.   
  
The high school senior heard a bell ring. Lunchtime, and right after the noise started the halls were immediately crowded with students.   
  
Xander peered down the school hallway, keeping a lookout for a certain redheaded Slayer or black and whites. He was taking a big risk showing his face around the school, but he had no choice.   
  
He definitely needed to find Alyssa's Watcher. Another thing he still couldn't believe that the cops hadn't shown up yet looking for him, obviously revealing to him that Willow's cousin also thought Angel was entitled to unlimited chances.  
  
It was also as if this was personal to her, and his run-in with Alyssa two nights ago only gave more credit to his theory of Slayers having a 'shoot first, ask questions later' mindset. It would be impossible to try and talk sense to one. Of course, that was probably one reason for no cops. She wanted to handle this herself.  
  
Watchers, on the other hand, loved to talk; so that was all he had to do. Find Alyssa's Watcher, talk and convince him or her that Deadboy had to die.   
  
Of course, the last thing he needed was for the Watcher to be in the Fang Boy Fan Club as well. What was it about the Brood King that had got everybody onto his side, anyway?   
  
Nearing a fork, Xander carefully moved towards the edge and looked down looking for anything moving with red hair. No redhead gunning for his blood. Acting casual, Xander made his way towards the front entrance that was just fifty feet away when he came to a sudden stop.  
  
Stepping right in front of the entrance about twenty feet away was the redheaded Slayer, who just crossed her arms across her chest as she glared at him. Then she just smiled at him.   
  
Xander immediately turned around and walked the other way, throwing a quick look back to see her following him – but there were too many students, so Xander couldn't see her. He came to a flight of stairs and he ascended them, not bothering to look back.   
  
Reaching the top flight Xander moved a little more down the hall while also throwing back a few glances at the stairs – but Alyssa didn't appear. There were two possibilities. One was that he was seeing things. The other was that he might have lost the Slayer.   
  
It was then that Xander heard from behind him a girl's voice yell out, "HEY, ALYSSA! You going to the new club?"   
  
Like a tiger, Xander turned around and saw the redheaded Slayer only ten feet away from him. Xander immediately walked away as fast as possible, breaking into small runs at times as he sought to put some distance between him and his pursuer.  
  
The teenager continued running down the hallway, until he reached a dead end. Looking around, his eyes fell upon a clearly marked sanctuary. However, there always was the chance that she would enter his sanctuary to get him.   
  
He didn't really have much of a choice. It was either escape now, or get busted for 'killing' everyone's favorite Tormented One. Xander ran into the sanctuary, and started getting to work on his escape.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Alyssa's smile began to disappear from her face, as she saw Xander make his fast exit. She had to hand it to him, he was good. But there was no way she was going to let some common hoodlum humiliate her, let alone the Slayer if he thought that hiding in the men's room would stop her from coming after him.   
  
She didn't even bother to turn around to see if anyone noticed her entering the restroom. And Alyssa didn't bother to enter quietly, since 'Alex' already knew she was after him, and she was actually enjoying this.  
  
"Alex. Oh Alex, where are you?" she sang out, opening the first stall door. It was empty. "Don't be shy, Alex. I just wanna talk to you..."   
  
'And mop the floor with your head for hurting Willow,' the girl thought privately, as she opened the next door revealing another empty stall. There was only one more stall left, and Alyssa's smile deepened.   
  
"You can run and you can hide Alex, but I always get my way. And believe me, you won't be leaving here alive..." she said, as she kicked the last stall door open revealing it to be – empty?!?! Where the hell had he gone?  
  
Alyssa was immediately alerted to the sound of clinking metal. Using her heightened Slayer senses, Alyssa was able to determine the sound's origin and she ran towards a window that was open.  
  
Glancing outside, she saw the escaping form of Alexander Harris jumping down from the chain link fence and pretty much getting the hell outta Dodge as he ran without even looking back, jumping onto another chain link fence and climbing over it.  
  
Alyssa started to mentally kick herself. He'd done it to her again. She was supposed to be the Slayer. Able to fight vampires and demons, yet a regular guy that she knew was able to outfox her! She turned around to leave, when she came face to face with a frowning Principal Chapman with his arms crossed against his chest.   
  
He had humiliated her yet again, twice within seconds of each other. Alex was dead meat, once she got her hands on him. 


	11. Diplomacy

Throughout her entire detention, Alyssa Friedman dreamed about how she was going to kill one Alexander Harris.  
  
Breaking every bone in his body had its appeal, but that would take too long. He wouldn't survive long enough for her to tear out and make Mickey Mouse ears with his lungs, when she tied them to his head.   
  
Yanking his brains out through his nose would probably ruin her boots, and with what she had seen so far, he was probably resourceful enough to escape being covered in honey and be bound to the floor near fire ants.   
  
Sure it seemed extreme, especially for someone she had known – but as they say, "let the punishment fit the crime" and in her case, being humiliated by the principal and having the reason for her detention spread around like wildfire was reason enough to kill him, especially with they way he was making her temper flare up.   
  
Eventually, after a long time had passed she was released and she set out to report in to her Watcher, Irene Tudor before she set out on patrol. Alyssa needed to know from Irene on the status of any new information that would nail Alexander Harris, and result in him being extradited back to California as an early, surprise birthday present for her cousin.   
  
As she left the school grounds, her mind was so preoccupied with the so-called Alexander's demise that her Slayer senses did not pick up one of Weasel's friends shadowing her, as she walked towards Irene's house.   
  
Irene Tudor did what she could to keep from laughing, as her Slayer explained to her what had happened. The idea of a common hoodlum being able to outmaneuver her was proof that this Slayer was still green, and would provide the woman with the excuse to intensify Alyssa's training.  
  
This only made Alyssa even angrier with this Harris person and she left to go on patrol, muttering to herself that he better not be seen by her. Around ten minutes later, an unexpected visitor arrived at Irene's front door.   
  
When Irene opened the door, she saw a young man with brown eyes and dark hair. He seemed friendly enough, and his tone of voice didn't betray him but Irene was not in the mood for it tonight.  
  
"I'm sorry, but if you're a Jehovah's Witness you should know that I'm Lutheran," she snapped.  
  
"Huh?" the boy responded in a confused manner. Then he understood her comment, "Oh. Yeah, it does kinda appear like that," the teenager said sheepishly. "But I'm not here to talk to you about God."   
  
"Then what are you here for?" the Watcher said patiently.   
  
"Well, I'm here to talk to you about certain things that go bump in the night."   
  
"Young man, I haven't the faintest idea of what you're talking about," Irene said, a little worriedly.   
  
"Sure you do. Vampires, demons, the Chosen One?"   
  
"Really? You are aware that Halloween isn't for another month right, yes?" Irene said evasively, but somehow knowing it was futile.   
  
"So that pissed-off looking redhead that was seen leaving this place wasn't the Slayer?" the boy said in a doubtful tone.   
  
"You…you're that murderer, aren't you?" Irene asked, frightened as she suddenly realized who he was.   
  
Xander put a hand to his face, and groaned. Removing his hand away from his face, he found himself staring down the barrel of a handgun being held by the shaking hands of Alyssa's Watcher.   
  
"Don't move," she said in a commanding voice.   
  
Irene then released one of her hands from the handle and went to her belt, grabbing the cell phone and was about to dial the police when the boy yelled out angrily, "THIS IS BULLSHIT! Since when did dusting a vampire become murder?"   
  
Irene stopped dead from dialing. "What…what did you say?"   
  
"When did the Council start considering that staking a vampire, is the same thing as murder?"   
  
"What on Earth are you talking about?" Irene said, very confused now.   
  
"Seems like you and me really gotta talk," Xander said matter-of-factly.   
  
"It appears we do," Irene said, still aiming the gun, but engaging the safety.   
  
Smiling, Xander said to the Watcher, "So, can I come in?"   
  
~*~*~*  
  
"You helped the Slayer in Sunnydale?" Irene said, a little surprised. That explained his knowledge of such mystical things.   
  
"Yup," Xander responded, smirking.   
  
"But the Slayer doesn't need help. They are quite capable of handling themselves alone," Irene replied, feeling threatened. The dogma she had been taught was that the only help the Slayer needed was from its Watcher.   
  
"Yeah, right. Tell that to the ones who died!"  
  
"Really? And how have you helped?" Irene countered, half-sarcastically.   
  
"Well, I revived Buffy Summers with CPR when the Master thought he killed her back in '97. I protected her when I was possessed by a soldier guy, and she was turned into a shadow-jumping aristocrat last Halloween. It was because of me, that we were able to get the weapon capable of whacking the Judge."   
  
"I see. And how does her boyfriend – uh, Angel – fit into this?" she asked, tired of the boy's obvious pride.   
  
"Ever heard of Angelus?"   
  
"The Scourge of Europe? Yes I have, but what does he have to do with this? He disappeared decades ago."   
  
"You know why, right?"   
  
"No I don't," Irene snapped, losing her patience.   
  
"Okay, I'll try to make this short. He was cursed with a human soul, for feeding on the wrong person at the wrong time."   
  
"A vampire with a soul?! Preposterous..."   
  
"No, it's not. Check the Watcher diaries or Rupert Giles' reports, if ya don't believe me. Angelus was cursed with a soul, and ever since he's lived 'with the guilt and torment of what he's inflicted on the human race'," Xander said sarcastically. "He pretty much faded away and became known as Angel, however there was a catch. An escape clause in the curse."   
  
"Which was?" Irene said, half-believing him. After all, if vampires existed perhaps this curse was possible.   
  
"A moment of pure happiness," Xander said bitterly.   
  
"And this was brought about, how?"  
  
"Basically, a necrophiliac Slayer."   
  
"WHAT?!?!" Irene exploded.   
  
"That's right. Angel and the Sunnydale Slayer fell in love. So one night they take the next step in their relationship, and screw each other's brains out like dogs in heat. However, by 'making love' with the one he loved, Angel got happy – and so his curse was broken. He became Angelus again, and gave our little gang in Sunnydale nothing but headaches. But he wasn't the real threat to Sunnydale."   
  
"He wasn't?" Irene said a little unnerved. 'What could be more dangerous than Angelus?'   
  
"No. It was the Slayer herself."   
  
"What are you saying to me?" Irene asked, getting more confused.   
  
"I'm saying that Buffy was totally unable to do her job. Any time they fought, she hesitated in staking him because she tried to turn him away from the Dark Side despite the fact he was trying to kill her."   
  
"Somebody's been watching too much Star Wars," she said a little amused.   
  
"That's fine, laugh it up – but what I still don't understand to this day, was why she spared him after everything he did..."  
  
The boy looked pissed, as he told his story. "Angelus killed innocents rather brutally, see, as messages for her. He tortured her Watcher, and put her Watcher's girlfriend in a coma and wheelchair. As for Alyssa's cousin Willow, the bastard made her boyfriend an orphan and homeless. And still, she did nothing to end his existence. Even Willow sided with Buffy, despite everything he did..."  
  
In complete disgust, Xander then said, "When Angelus tried to sexually assault Buffy the vampire Slayer's eleven-year-old sister, still she did nothing! She didn't see how Dawn was, after that thing tried to rape her. Thank God I was in the neighborhood," he finished up, slamming his hand onto the table. It was then that Irene noticed that he had a tear streaming down his right eye.   
  
"What did he do to you?" she whispered.   
  
"He took the only thing that really meant anything to me, anymore. My Cordelia. He grabbed my girlfriend, and turned her into a vampire. And get this," he said bitterly. "Because she was a vamp, Buffy decided that she had to stake Cordy straightaway – despite the fact that she hadn't even done anything to anyone yet. She was only a fledging," he said, more tears flowing down his face.   
  
"My opinion, the Slayer was just incredibly selfish. She couldn't see past herself, to see everyone else was in pain. It was all only about her. I mean, why would it be all right to stake Cordy, but not Angel? And believe me, it gets even better..."  
  
Xander then said, "Finally, Angelus had gotten possession of Acathla and intended to destroy the world. It seemed to me that Buffy would finally do her duty, but NO. Willow found the spell to curse Angel again, and jumping at the chance Buffy just had to get her Angel back..."  
  
The boy shrugged. "Do you know wanna what she did next? She put not only her life on the line, but also the lives of six billion people just to get her boyfriend back, even as he tried to kill her. And immediately after Angelus got all Soul Man once more, there were about to get Angel to lose his soul again! So I staked the bastard, and because Princess Buffy says so, it was a jealousy-motivated murder."   
  
"Jealousy?"  
  
"I used to have a thing for the Slayer, but after I got together with Cordelia it faded away. Still, everyone refused to believe me."  
  
"So you left."   
  
"Oh, yeah. Willow and Buffy went psycho, giving me 48 hours to get out of Sunnydale. I come here ready to start my life over, and wind up meeting Willow's cousin – who apparently runs the Chicago branch of the 'Give Angel Another Chance' club. And who now wants me in jail, for staking him. Look, I just want to be left alone, and have a normal life."  
  
"I'll talk to her. When she told me about what you did, she made it sound as if Angel was a human. But for what it's worth, Mr. Harris, I believe you were right in what you did."   
  
"Thanks. It's nice to know at least someone thinks so..."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
When Alyssa returned to Irene's home to report, she found her Watcher waiting for her in the living room, just sitting down.   
  
"Alyssa..." Irene said. "I've been doing some thinking recently," she started to say.   
  
A pause. "And I've come to the conclusion, that you should forget about that murderer from Sunnydale. The police will catch him, and besides... what happened in California is not your concern. You must worry about what happens here. You have your duty to focus upon and carry out, rather than chase after some lowlife human criminal that human police should pursue," she finished up, hoping that Alyssa would never suspect that Harris had spoken to her.  
  
"But Irene..."  
  
"Alyssa. You're the Slayer, not the CPD. End of discussion."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Monday afternoon in Ness High school's cafeteria, as Alexander Harris ate his lunch alone at a table, he saw Alyssa Friedman walking by with her friends and he smiled at her. She, in turn, just gave him a glare that quickly turned his blood cold. 


	12. Specter

A week had passed since Xander had visited Alyssa's Watcher – and amazingly, Alyssa had stopped trying to bring him in.   
  
But that still didn't stop her from giving him death glares, because she happened to agree with her cousin and Buffy about Angel.   
  
In Xander's opinion, the girl had either changed over the years, or the stress of becoming the Slayer was making her loony. The way she looked at him with anger in her eyes, told him that what she was doing was personal, all because he'd done the Slayer's job on a vampire that had deserved it more than any other.  
  
Glancing at his wristwatch to look at the time, Xander was somewhat alarmed. It wouldn't be safe in around 35 minutes. He had studied longer than he had planned, for biology. Stashing his books and notes in his backpack, Xander left the library, which lo and behold was Slayer-free.  
  
Exiting the library, the boy realized that the sun was going to set far earlier than he'd expected. He opted to cut across the school's quad and jump a few fences, rather then take the long way around. Jogging to the first fence, he began to pick up speed and leaped onto the fence near a utility shed. The senior quickly pulled himself up and over, jumping down, just like he'd done a week ago.  
  
Chuckling at the memory, Xander was brought back to reality by a punch that was thrown at him, causing him to spin around and onto the ground.   
  
Putting his hand to his right jaw, Xander tried to get up – but he was then met with a brutal kick to his stomach, causing him to fall back down, this time on his back.  
  
It was then that he finally got a glimpse at who had assaulted him. They were vampires. Two of them, with their game faces on. But rather than their dinner being surprised, they were surprised because rather than see fear in his eyes as they always expected... all they saw was hate.  
  
Seizing the opportunity, Xander did a foot sweep against one of the vamps, tripping it onto the other and onto the floor. Swiftly, the former Slayerette grabbed a steel pipe and impaled one of the vampires in the neck, lifting it up as it turned to dust.   
  
Letting his grip on the pipe go, Xander let loose with a wild roundhouse kick that knocked the remaining vampire back into the wall, where it was quickly staked in the heart by a pencil Xander had in his pocket.   
  
'Why can't they just leave me alone?' the boy thought as he retrieved his pack, slinging it across his shoulder – when he heard some clapping, as if congratulating him. He turned around, expecting to see Alyssa mocking him with applause.  
  
Instead, he saw a specter. One Xander had hoped never to see again. His mind fought to overcome his new fear, telling him to run away – and he did just that, running for the next fence and jumping it, making his way to the safest place he knew, with the specter following him.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Irene Tudor was just arriving home from her day job, when she saw the youth that had staked Angelus run towards her. "Get into the house!!" he yelled at her.  
  
Somewhat confused, Irene said, "What's going on?"  
  
"Just get into the house, now!" Xander said as he grabbed her arm, yanking her to the front door. Fumbling for her keys, Irene dropped them. Xander immediately grabbed the keys on the ground and put them into the lock, when he heard something snap.   
  
Looking back towards Irene, he saw her body falling towards the ground, her neck twisted at an impossible angle – and then he saw nothing but darkness.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
When Xander finally came back from the world of shadows, he noticed that he was hanging upside down from the ceiling, and on the floor was Irene Tudor's lifeless body. He tried looking around to see if he could get a better view when he saw the specter, and he went pale with fear as the specter saw him awake.  
  
"You finally woke up," the specter said happily. "That's good, Mummy wanted so much to punish her naughty kitten for taking away her Daddy." 


	13. Pleasant Suprise

"Drusilla!?!" Xander exclaimed while trying to be as friendly as possible, "What a pleasant surprise! Look, if this is about me turning down your offer for eternal life, I still think that we should have started slow – ya know, like…" he never finished as the vampiress slapped him in the face.  
  
"Kitten shouldn't fib to Mummy! It's very naughty."  
  
"I hope this means you're giving me a timeout..."  
  
Drusilla just smiled at him, then she responded by putting one of her hands to cover Xander's mouth and the other to pinch his nose.  
  
Even though he was powerless to do anything, he swayed in an attempt to loosen her grip – but it was futile. But just as suddenly as she'd started, she released her hands from his face and Xander drew in as much air as he could. But that still didn't stop him from saying more wisecracks...  
  
"Okay, I get the idea that you want to take my breath away, but I didn't think you meant it literally..."  
  
Drusilla growled at him, shifting into her game face but Xander decided to ignore the hint. "Say, where's the Rolling Wonder? I mean, you never go anywhere without…urk!" Drusilla shot an arm to his neck, gripping it and applied pressure.  
  
"Never mention his name around me again! He sided with the awful Slayer to kill my Daddy. Besides, he loves her, whether he realizes it or not..."  
  
"Guess the three of ya really should go on talk shows. Springer would love you guys," Xander squeaked through her grip.  
  
"DON'T YOU EVER SHUT UP?!?" Drusilla screamed, finally losing her patience. "ALL YOU'RE DOIN' IS MAKING ME WANT TO FINISH PLAYING WITH YOU!!" She immediately released his neck, and turned around. The nutty vampiress began pacing back and forth – when with a smirk, Xander opened his mouth again.  
  
"Dru? Didn't your parents ever teach you not to play with your food?" Xander knew he was going to die, but damned if he was going out begging to be spared.  
  
Drusilla in turn tilted his head to the side and was about to feed from the annoying boy, when she heard the familiar sound of a vampire being staked. She and her posse all turned around, their eyes searching but all they saw was a pile of dust with a crossbow bolt in it.   
  
The sound was heard again from behind them, and the vampires saw another pile of dust. Drusilla looked at Xander who just shrugged, "Hey, don't look at me..."  
  
Another vampire was turned to dust and Drusilla then said to herself angrily, "The stars say a wicked Slayer's 'ere!" turning away from Xander.   
  
And no sooner had Dru said that than she saw a bat swinging towards her face, smashing upon contact and launching her hard into Xander, who as a result from the impact began to swing back and forth.   
  
Half-dazed, Drusilla got up to look for the blonde-haired bitch when she heard the sound of her last minion being turned to dust. Then she saw the Slayer, who happened to have red hair.  
  
The redheaded Slayer looked at her kitten, and back at her. Then she said, "If you want a piece of him, get in line – because I'm first!"  
  
"You don't play nice. You should learn to share..."  
  
"Yeah, well, you're going to have to settle for leftovers," Alyssa said, holding a stake.   
  
Drusilla tried to gauge the new Slayer. Ms. Edith was telling her that she could win, she knew a Slayer's moves so Dru readied herself to fight when the redhead pulled out a knife from her back with a fluid-like motion, and threw it at the vampiress which pinned her hand to the wall.   
  
The Slayer smiled, and then completely surprised Drusilla as she turned around and kicked her kitten where the chains restrained him. The sudden force combined with Xander's momentum and weight caused the lamp hook in the ceiling that held Xander to come loose, resulting in the boy falling down on his head.  
  
"Owww!!" Xander moaned, trying not letting on how painful it really was. He looked at Alyssa, and saw her smile maliciously. Then she turned around and saw a freed Drusilla, clutching her wounded hand. She looked at the Slayer and her kitten.  
  
"You were lucky," the insane vamp seethed at Alyssa. Then she looked at Xander while saying, "We'll meet again..." and she raced out of the house.   
  
Alyssa turned around and walked towards the former Scooby member, saying, "Care to explain what that was about?"  
  
"Never get involved with someone that enjoys S & M?" was his answer.   
  
Alyssa glared at him; then she grabbed him by his shirt collar roughly, whispering to him in a threatening voice, "You better give me a damn good reason why Irene's dead..." 


	14. Negotiations

For once Xander decided to keep his mouth shut, which only made Alyssa angrier with him. Still holding him by his shirt collar, she lifted his head off the floor and brought it close to hers. So close that their lips were only centimeters from touching.  
  
"Don't make me repeat myself, Alex," she said menacingly.   
  
"Long or short?" he shot out.  
  
The Slayer was taken off guard, and quickly tried to make out what he meant – when she realized she knew what he meant. "You got five seconds," Alyssa grunted, through clenched teeth.  
  
"I dusted her creator," he said, smirking a little.  
  
Alyssa let go of his shirt collar, causing his head to fall back down on the floor, and she went over to the body of her Watcher. She kneeled down next to Irene's still body, while fighting back tears.   
  
The young girl didn't know what to do. She'd never had someone that she knew die, and was seeking to place the blame on Alex.   
  
But how was it his fault? He had staked that undead creature's sire, that had sought revenge against him for that – and as a result, Irene was dead.  
  
So, wait, he was at fault for what had happened to Irene. Everything that had happened was his fault. If Alex hadn't betrayed her cousin and murdered Angel, he wouldn't have arrived here. If he hadn't arrived here, Irene would be alive.   
  
All because he'd staked that vampire's sire…who would have been killing even more people, if he hadn't done what he did. Something she should have done, instead of hunting him for something the police would catch him for.  
  
"What's gonna happen to you now?" the Chosen One heard him say, interrupting her thoughts.  
  
"What do you mean?" she said turning back at him, confused.  
  
"With Irene dead, what's gonna happen to you now? It'll take some time for another Watcher to arrive to train you, ya know."  
  
"And how would you know?" the girl said, keeping her anger in check. 'How does he know so much about Slayers?'  
  
Xander squirmed, while trying to get comfortable. "Well, I already know Irene reports to the Council to acquire information whenever you run into something you can't handle, as well as detail your kills. Besides, a Watcher's job is to train the Slayer."  
  
"So, what am I supposed to do? If what you say is true, it'll take a while for another Watcher to arrive. Another thing is Irene said she was going to intensify the training, once I finished the basics..."  
  
"Well, just my opinion, but you're finished with that, Alyssa. That vampire you faced? That was Drusilla. She's not playing with a full deck, if you catch my meaning. She's also over 150 years old, and has already taken down one Slayer. Your predecessor. Take it from me, she's a vampire you don't really want to meet again, Slayer or not. If you need help, I'll be happy to oblige..."  
  
"And what makes you think I need YOUR help? I was doing fine, before you even got into the Slayer picture."  
  
"How long have you been a Slayer? A month, two?"  
  
"Around there," she said, bewildered by the question.  
  
"Do you know what the average life span of a Slayer is?"  
  
"No. Please, enlighten me," she sneered at him. Like he would know that much about a Slayer's...  
  
"A year. Two years, if she's really good at it," Xander sighed. "Like it or not, you will need help," he said grinning, and although Alyssa didn't want to admit it, he was right. 


	15. Friction

Four days later  
  
"Show me what you got, Lys. Don't hold anything back," Xander said after taking a sparring stance.   
  
Alyssa was VERY happy to oblige, launching a barrage of punches and kicks that quickly forced Xander on the defensive, unable to counterattack. The uneven match inevitably climaxed with Xander collapsing onto the training mat, and Alyssa running a hand through her medium-length red hair.   
  
She then looked down at him, as if in contempt. "Didn't even break a sweat," the Slayer said in a mocking tone of voice.  
  
"True, but you're still green," Xander said in between groans, as he got up.  
  
"Well, you do have perseverance," the girl said as she threw another kick at him, which he blocked. "But tell me, don't you get tired off eating mat?" she half-sneered.  
  
"Nope. Haven't you realized I've been throwing the matches?" he shot back. To Xander's surprise, Alyssa smiled at the joke in the way that it was meant to be. A well-meaning smile, rather than a 'you're going to get it' smile.  
  
Thus, they continued sparring for another hour.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
The next day following school and a near disastrous economics test, Xander worked as quickly as possible to set up a makeshift training center for his ex-friend in Irene's home.   
  
The day after the woman's death, Xander had found documents that showed that the Council owned the home. Unfortunately, he was unable to find a number that would allow him to get in contact with the Watchers to let them know what had happened.  
  
And it wasn't like he could just phone up the old G-man in Sunnydale...  
  
So the matter fell into his hands and Xander acted quickly, cobbling together some attack dummies, a range for her to work on her accuracy in missile weapons, and a small workout station, getting the chance to apply the skills he learned in construction and keeping up to date.   
  
Tonight, the Slayer would get a real big surprise if he was right about this.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Okay, Alyssa. Let's dance," Xander said, hiding the glee.   
  
Alyssa followed through with her attack on Xander, except that this time, her opening punch didn't hit him. Nor did her follow up punch and kick combo.   
  
'Is he psychic?' As that thought entered her head, Xander attacked with a foot sweep, knocking her off her feet and back first onto the training mat.   
  
Xander then ran a hand through his hair while saying, "Didn't even break a sweat."  
  
Alyssa's urge to kill her 'trainer' flew off the scale, as she got up and charged at him with a shriek. But Xander just sidestepped and held out his left foot while saying, "Ole!" causing Alyssa to trip and meet the mat again.   
  
As she was getting back up again, she heard Alex say to her, "Alyssa? I'm over here," he said, further enraging her.  
  
As Xander predicted, she charged at him again and the male teenager grabbed Alyssa's hands and fell onto the floor as he performed a judo throw against her, sending her into a training dummy.  
  
Before she could get up, Xander had her pinned to the floor with his knee against her chest. Alyssa tried to break the hold, but it was pointless. She conceded the match and the first thing out of her mouth was, "How'd you do it, Alex?"  
  
"Simple, Lys. You follow an attack pattern that's predictable. Against the vamps you stake it's meaningless, but there's more to this world than the undead, Slayer. There are lots of other things out there. Things that will study you, to find some way to beat you. Also, like any other Slayer, you lose focus when you lose your temper."  
  
"And how would you know about Slayer tempers?" she snapped.  
  
"I know they tend to be huge, short and crazy," he shot back.  
  
"Care to repeat that comment?" she said icily.  
  
"Slayers tend to start PMS-ing right off the scale, when something doesn't go their way," Xander shrugged. Right before he saw Alyssa's fist flying towards him, then darkness.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Alyssa was still fuming, after decking Alex unconscious. Who did he think he was, talking to her like that? She was debating whether she should just let that Drusilla vampire have him next time, or to have him photographed in bed next to a guy when she saw him smiling.   
  
He was laughing at her.   
  
Her urge to…to…to hurt him skyrocketed. She was about to kick him again, this time in the stomach when she heard him mutter out dreamily, "Twinkies?! Sure, just back up the truck," while deepening his grin, smacking his lips. Then he tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable while on the floor.   
  
Alyssa was mystified. There he was, floored and at her mercy and the jackass was dreaming about pastries? And yet, it was so like him. Alex…Xander had always been eating said pastry delights, ever since she'd first met him. Now that was an encounter she would never forget...  
  
Alyssa had been with her parents visiting, and it had been the first time she'd ever met her cousin as well. Her Uncle Ira had taken Willow out to the back yard, and therefore was unaware of the surprise visit. It was to her Aunt Sheila's delight that they had shown up.   
  
She had been preparing her husband his favorite dessert, German chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream for his birthday, which he had forgotten, and having her husband's sister visiting would be a special treat. Alyssa would present the cake to her uncle, when he arrived home. So everything was set into motion.  
  
There was just one problem. A boy named Xander Harris.   
  
When her uncle's car arrived, the family took their places and was ready to shout out 'surprise'. Alyssa was just four feet from the door, holding the cake while dressed in the prettiest dress she'd had, smiling.   
  
It was then that the door burst open without warning, signaling the arrival of a running red head that was laughing, followed by dark-haired boy who was also running and laughing after her. Both were running so fast, that neither noticed the new girl holding the cake.   
  
What a mess that had ended up being. Unable to stop, Willow crashed into her, causing the cake to become smashed against her new dress and to also get on her cousin.   
  
Both were on the floor, Willow wide-eyed while Alyssa was on the verge of tears, when Xander stepped in. He ran his finger along Alyssa's ruined dress; gathering as much cake and ice cream as he could and he tasted it.   
  
"Can you make more of her?" he asked innocently. "She's delicious!"  
  
Willow had burst out in laughter hysterically, while she…what had she done? She couldn't remember.   
  
That memory made Alyssa smile, which was what she found herself doing as she saw him still on the floor. Seeing him lay there, and with that smile he looked absolutely adorable, and quiet for once.   
  
'Where did that come from?' she then thought. Alyssa just turned and left the house while Xander continued to dream of Twinkies, and seeing the wedding between Cloud and Aeris when he finally beat Final Fantasy VII.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Three weeks later  
  
Alyssa hated to admit it, but taking on Alex as her trainer had been a good decision. Even though he couldn't last long against her in a sparring match he did give her a decent workout, especially in dirty fighting.   
  
According to him, the only rule during the 'Slayage', as he called it, was staying alive – and that meant doing anything you could. From her attacking him while he was down, to him using anything he could get his hands on as a weapon.   
  
She was just recovering from having Alex smash a chair onto her back, when they heard a knock on the door. Alyssa looked up at Alex, who stopped. Quickly, Alyssa threw a foot sweep – but surprisingly, Alex jumped up, avoiding it.   
  
"Still predictable there, Lys," he smirked, and then he opened the door to reveal a young, well-dressed man with glasses. "Yes?" Xander said lazily.  
  
"Excuse me, but is there a Miss Alyssa Friedman here?" he said, a little nervously.  
  
"Depends on who's asking," Xander replied, already knowing who he might be and coming up with a good wisecrack.  
  
"My name is Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, and I need to speak with her privately."  
  
"Whatever you need to say to my dear wife, you can tell me. She's not seeing you behind my back, is she?" the boy said, the last part said while trying not to laugh. The high school senior saw that Wesley's reaction was wide-eyed, when suddenly he felt a blow on his head.  
  
"Shut up, Alex. You couldn't pay a girl to marry you," Alyssa said, a little annoyed.  
  
Xander looked at Wesley then shrugged, "The abuse started ever since we tied the knot, and it hasn't stopped since, ya know?"  
  
"ALEX! I'm warning you. Keep it up, and I'll…"  
  
"Okay, okay. I'll admit it; we didn't want the social stigma associated with regards to our unborn baby being illegitimate."  
  
Alyssa grabbed him and quickly tossed him over her shoulder, sending Xander flying into the house's living room. Then she looked back at Wesley, who didn't know what to make or say. "I'm sorry, but the so-called 'husband' doesn't know when to shut up. What can I help you with?"  
  
"Ms. Friedman, I'm glad to have finally found you. I am to be your new Watcher." 


	16. Explosion

As Alyssa's new Watcher, Wesley quickly got the run down on the two people he was with. Thanks to Alex, he did not have to go on a 'relearning of the basics' curve with his charge; she had been kept up to date, and had also learned new tactics thanks to the young man.  
  
But Alex himself had been a situation he had never expected. And Alyssa was afraid that both would feel threatened by the new arrival. Alex by not being needed, and Wesley by being told he wasn't needed.  
  
Surprisingly, though, they had started getting along very well and became fast friends. Both shared an interest in science fiction; Wesley's of course in the utopian principles, whereas Alex preferred the technological wonders.   
  
It was this friendship that made what Alyssa planned to do even harder. Turn in Alexander, for the murder of Angel in Sunnydale.  
  
Now that she had a Watcher again, Alyssa felt that Alex had served his purpose and was therefore unneeded to help her anymore. So she told Wesley what her cousin had told her.   
  
Wesley's reaction was, "Alex – a, a murderer?! That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! The only things that Alex wants to kill are vampires, and Ruby WEAPON."  
  
"If that's the case, why don't you ask him about Angel?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"The guy Alex killed in Sunnydale. Ask him about that, and I think you'll be surprised about his reaction."  
  
"And what will you be doing?"  
  
"I'll be taping the conversation."  
  
"Alyssa, I'm not sure if this is a good idea. If he did what you say he did, surely he would have been caught by now..."  
  
"Well, he will be after tonight."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Thanks, Wes. I doubt I'd have been able to beat Ruby WEAPON without your help."  
  
"This coming from the man who thought that killing your other team members was a waste of time?"  
  
"Yeah, but then again you told me there was no way to get rid of the twenty minute time limit, when fighting Emerald WEAPON."  
  
"Yes, well, I see your point. Ah, Alex, there is something I've been meaning to ask you."  
  
"Okay, go ahead."  
  
"Why is Alyssa so cold to you? I've asked her, but she refuses to say why. Quite frankly, division in the ranks is something we simply cannot afford."  
  
"Curious, huh? All right, no harm in asking, but how can I make this short? Okay. Once upon a time in the town of Sunnydale, a Slayer called Buffy – or Bitchy, whatever you prefer – arrived to save the world. Put my head in the clouds, so to speak. It was then that I found out her destiny, along with my best friend Willow who also happens to be Alyssa's cousin."  
  
Outside in the bushes with a video recorder, Alyssa froze. Willow knew about that Slayer?  
  
"So we decide to help her. Willow helped with her hacker skills, her Watcher Giles with the research materials, and Buffy used potions of manliness to slay."  
  
"What about you? What did you do?"  
  
"Nothing. Okay, I helped with the research, sorta. Thing is, Bitchy thought only she could handle the dark forces. So I wound up helping her, even when she didn't want my help. I was even called Bitchy's 'White Knight', when I defended her from Angelus."  
  
"Ah, I've heard of him. The Scourge of Europe, yes?"  
  
"The very same."  
  
"But what about this man Angel, that Alyssa told me about?"  
  
"Angel, now, he was quite a character. His idea of help was speaking to us in riddles about what to do. Buffy thought it was all sexy. Myself, I think he did it to cover up the fact that he didn't really have anything intelligent to say."  
  
Xander snorted, "But what happened was that Buffy and Angel fell in love. Willow was, of course, over the moon about it. Her new best friend was in love! Of course, there was the little problem of Angel's past. See, Angelus killed the wrong person way back when, and these gypsies cursed him. Cursed him with a soul, and Angelus became Angel. The vampire with a soul."  
  
Alyssa nearly dropped the recorder at that revelation.  
  
"But curses, they're made to be broken. One night after a fight, Buffy and Angel decided to screw each other senseless and he lost his soul. The worst vampire that ever existed was back again, and the headaches began. Our meetings were on stopping whatever evil plan there was, as well as Angel this and Angel that, climaxing with poor, poor Angel..."  
  
The boy's anger shone through his words. "Eventually, Angelus was going to try to destroy the world. And when the showdown came, Willow re-cursed him because she now practices magic. With his soul back, Buffy was thinking real happy thoughts about a house, 2.4 kids and a white picket fence – even though she was endangering six billion lives."  
  
"What?" Wesley was aghast.  
  
"Yeah, she flat-out refused to go all out on him when I told her Willow was going to try the curse, even when the lives of six billion people were riding on it. She just wanted her boyfriend back even after Angelus tried to rape her kid sister, turned my girlfriend into a vampire, and other acts that shall remain unmentioned. So, I dusted the bastard. He'd already had a second chance, and I didn't think he deserved a third and probably fourth chance."  
  
"You staked Angelus!?!" Wesley asked, amazed.  
  
"Yeah, and get this. According to the Slayer, for staking her boyfriend it's murder and Willow sided with Buffy on that. I did it out of 'jealousy'," Xander said cynically.   
  
"Willow then threatens my life and says Buffy will also be coming after me, so I come here. Imagine to my surprise that Willow's cousin is the Slayer here – and she's also running with the 'We Love Angel' club, especially after her previous Watcher Irene told me she would talk to her! And to make things worse, that nutsack Drusilla was able to track me here and wants me real dead-dead for what I did to her Daddy."  
  
"Ah, yes, I've heard of her as well. An insane vampiress that sometimes gets visions of the future. I must say I'm impressed, Alex. You know, your exploits flow just like an RPG..."  
  
"Yeah. Let's just pray that I don't buy it, or have to deal with a real Big Bad – ya know, that has to be killed three to four times."  
  
Xander then got up from where he was sitting and went to the kitchen to get something to drink, while Wesley stood amazed. 'What else has he done?' the Watcher wondered, while Alyssa was trying to process everything Alex had said.   
  
Her own cousin knew about Slayers, and Angel was a vampire. She felt dirty. Dirty for what she had done and thought of him. She turned the recorder off, and almost threw it away in disgust. All this anger at him, over a vampire.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Halloween, 1998  
  
Dressed in her costume, Alyssa waited with her friends for their dates to arrive. Not surprisingly, Alyssa's date was the class president.   
  
Since it was almost impossible to identify each other when it was unknown what you looked like under the costume, Alyssa had told her date what to look for while he just responded that he'd be "very obvious". When she asked what that meant, he'd responded that she would see.  
  
So the redhead waited for him in her costume, and had already had more than enough of the wolf-whistles and pickup lines. But then again, she'd sort of brought it upon herself dressing up as a nurse that seemed to have come straight out of a 'Playboy' magazine.  
  
Alyssa was wearing an above-the-knee mini skirt, with white stockings, and white strappy open toe heels, complete with nurse's hat. She scanned the crowd again, looking for her date when she saw someone dressed up in a white surcoat that covered chainmail armor. That could only be one person, and she knew it to be Alex.   
  
Even though it had been a week since she'd heard the truth, she still remembered hearing what Alex had been called – the 'White Knight'.  
  
The Slayer tore her gaze away from Alex and continued to look for her date when she found him, and he had been right. The costume was obvious. He was the only one dressed like that.   
  
A red robe and matching helmet with a black visor. Students moved to give him space, and members of the sci-fi crowd "oohed" at his costume.  
  
Alyssa had seen the costume before somewhere, but she couldn't place it. It didn't matter, though. What mattered was that he was here. She walked towards him, coming to a stop in front of her date and said, "Original costume choice. It does suit you."  
  
Her date nodded his head and held out his hand, gesturing to her if she wanted to dance. She did, and the couple moved to the dance floor. She looked back at Alex with a smirk, seeing him without a date, and began to dance with who she thought was her new boyfriend.  
  
It was like magic for her. He was an excellent dancer, and didn't have two left feet like her last date had. She wound up dancing with him for 23 wonderful minutes. After the last music number ended, she asked if he could be a dear and bring her something to drink.   
  
He said "No problem," in a voice that was muffled by the helmet and he went to go get the drinks.   
  
She then turned away from her date, noticed Alex approaching her and she shuddered. 'What does he want?' she thought, annoyed that he would talk to her here.   
  
Alex removed his helmet, and demanded to know why he was dancing with red-robed guy; only it wasn't Alex underneath the knight's helmet but her date, Brad Masters.  
  
Seeing Brad, the sci-fi nuts grew excited. If Masters was the White Knight, then who was dressed up as the Imperial Guard? All eyes focused on the crimson guardsman who grabbed a soda and removed his helmet in order to drink it, revealing the features of Alexander Harris.  
  
It couldn't be. She had been dancing with the one person she'd loathed. Alyssa walked straight at him, demanding an explanation.  
  
"I thought you knew it was me," he said, amazed. "Don't you remember how much I loved them in 'Return of the Jedi', and how I said I wanted to dress up like one?" the teenager asked.  
  
"You made me humiliate my date, and that's what you have to say for yourself?"  
  
"What, you were expecting an apology?"  
  
"While we're at it, yes!"  
  
"What are you, pregnant?" he snapped.  
  
That left her speechless. Where had that come from? "Of course not. Why?"  
  
"Because I'm running out of explanations, as to why else you're being such a moody bitch."  
  
Alyssa felt like she'd been slapped in the face. 'HOW DARE HE?!' She looked for the right comeback, and found one based on what she had knew of him.  
  
"You know, I can't even begin to understand how someone as pathetic as you even had a girlfriend! What went wrong Alex, she left because you weren't man enough for her?"  
  
Xander felt like he lost all feeling in his body. The soda dropped to the floor and the glass smashed, startling the crowd. The boy looked emotionless, as he put on the helmet. He then turned around, and walked away, leaving what earlier had been the best time he'd had since Sunnydale.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Outside, Xander made his way home, trying not to cry. 'How could she?' Tear open a wound that had nearly healed. Her words brought back the pain he had thought buried with his dead girlfriend, and he knew Alyssa was right.   
  
He hadn't been man enough for her. If only he had put her first instead of the Slayage, then Angelus wouldn't have turned her. They would still be together, because he would have been able to protect the one person who'd really mattered.  
  
After all... 'Love conquers all,' Xander thought half-cynically. Maybe he should have just let Cordelia kill him. Then their souls would have been together at least, unless hers was doomed not to be at rest until her vamp self was staked.  
  
So deep in thought he was about those possibilities, as well as wearing his helmet, that Xander was unaware that he was being followed, nor did he notice the strong grip that wrapped around his head, creating a chokehold.   
  
But he did hear a familiar voice saying to him, "Now, now. You know you'll never see your Queen again, kitten," before he passed out. 


	17. AWOL

'What did I do to deserve this?' Alyssa thought, as she saw the occasional shaking head from the majority of the student body mixed with what appeared to be disgust.   
  
It had been two days since Alex had disappeared. Two days since she had thrown out that low blow about his dead girlfriend. Nobody knew where he was, and the only thing his classmates knew was that he was last seen leaving the dance. And he hadn't been seen since, so she was getting the blame.  
  
Of course, she as well as everybody else in the school had believed Alex was overdoing the hurt bit, but that belief was crushed when her friend Gilda, who worked in the office as an aide, revealed to her that Alex's aunt and uncle had filled out a missing person's report.  
  
Frankly, Alyssa was very worried. Alex was too strong to just let the hazing get to him and have him run away.   
  
The Slayer knew she needed to find the boy, otherwise she would continue feeling bad. And all that she knew was that he better appreciate what she was going to do for him. Alyssa was going to associate with the rejects to find him, starting with that disreputable Weasel character.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Entering Wesley's home, Alyssa was in a somber mood. Weasel had been unable to find her annoying ally, and the guilt was eating away at her. She felt that she should talk to Wesley to get some of the load off, but she'd been unable to find him.  
  
He couldn't be out, because his car was in the driveway. Keeping her guard up, the Chosen One went silently from room to room looking for him – when she heard a sudden outburst coming from the garage. Quietly, she made her way towards the garage and listened to the voices.  
  
"You little bastard. You did that on purpose!"  
  
"Zip it, numb nuts. I told you I was firing my cannons into Brian's dragon ogres! It's not my fault your dwarves were right in front of them. Just accept it as collateral damage..."  
  
"Collateral damage? You decimated my entire regiment and killed King Knuckles without even hitting Brian, and you call that collateral damage? You are so DEAD!"  
  
"Don't forget your dwarves need to take a panic test Bob, seeing that their king was killed."  
  
"Shut up, fathead. I'm coming after you, once I'm finished with Dave..."  
  
Believing that she had heard enough, Alyssa entered the garage right into the middle of a full-scale war, literally.   
  
In the middle of the garage was a diorama scene comprised of miniature hills, forest, and what looked to be a castle, with what appeared to model soldiers everywhere in that scene. Alyssa was slightly confused by these new events when she quickly remembered that it was 'Game Night' for Alex, her Watcher, and Alex's friends from her school, the "Something of the Something Table".  
  
"Wesley! What do you think you're doing?" she exclaimed.  
  
Looking over at the stocky, redheaded guy next to him, Wesley grinned then said, "Showing Brian next round why dwarves suck."  
  
"Wesley, this is serious. Have you seen or heard from Alex?"  
  
"Not since Halloween."  
  
"He better have a good reason for not showing up," Brian said. "We really need his Dark Elves, 'cause B.A is giving us a pounding here."  
  
Seeing the distraught look on Alyssa's face, Wesley said "Alyssa, don't worry. He's probably a little busy."  
  
"Wesley, his relatives have filed a missing person's report!"  
  
"Calm down, Alyssa. Alex can be resourceful, and is perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Wherever he is, I'm sure the boy is quite safe..."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Groaning in pain, Xander opened his eyes and saw his battered and beaten body before him still dressed in the tattered crimson robes of the Imperial Guard. Everywhere he looked, he saw his own reflection.  
  
He was hanging by chains in the middle of a room surrounded by mirrors, where he was able to see the body 'art' Drusilla had done on his torso. She had used her nails on him, cutting him and using his blood as paint to create an angel, stick figures, a dead tree, what looked to be a queen, skulls and cats – or to be more precise, kittens.   
  
Xander knew he was in trouble, but this time he was in real danger. It was as if Dru was taking everything to the limit.  
  
He then heard in the distance the clattering of feet in the halls, and it get louder as it grew closer and closer. Then he heard the creaking of a door opening, and then closed. Try as he might, Xander was unable to find Drusilla when she appeared before him, running her fingers against his exposed torso.   
  
Drusilla then turned and nodded her head, and Xander immediately felt new pain as he was hoisted up. Only the sound of metal moving against metal was heard, when he heard the sound of something metallic being dragged under him. Then he was lowered into something cold and wet.   
  
Looking down, he realized he was in a metallic barrel of water. "Thanks Dru. I really could use a sponge bath..."  
  
"Thank you, kitten," she said to him, smiling. Then the nutcase leaned in closer, whispering to him, "I hope you enjoy it as much as I will..."   
  
Before he could ponder what she meant by that, Xander felt a strong tingling sensation in him – then he screamed out in agony.  
  
Looking over at Drusilla, he saw a satisfied smile as she nodded again and he saw an electric cable lowered into the water, electrocuting him. And how long it lasted, he could not say.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
It wasn't long before Brian and Wesley called a halt to the campaign. Even though their desperate forces were holding up well against the Alliance, the Dark Brotherhood would collapse if Alex's Dark Elves were unable to reinforce them.   
  
The companions then decided to meet up next week. Hopefully, Alex would have showed up by then. If not, they would scour the city for him, going into places the CPD wouldn't dare go into, mainly the sewers and even into Rat Haven if that was what it took to find him.  
  
"Seriously Wesley, playing with little soldiers at your age," Alyssa scolded him like a child.  
  
"Alyssa, it is a war game," he countered with a superior smile.  
  
"Is that so? I think you've got too much time on your hands, Wesley. You and Alex should be researching, rather than playing with toys."  
  
"For your information Alyssa, we play with 'toys' as you put it, once we finish our research. And it's not like we get much supernatural activity here, anyways; Chicago is not on top of a Hellmouth."  
  
"A what?"  
  
"The Hellmouth is a gateway, so to speak, connecting our world to Hell. It acts like a magnet to the otherworldly creatures."  
  
"So why am I here, and not on this Hellmouth?" Alyssa demanded, thinking that if she was going to do her job, it should be where she was needed.  
  
"Because the other Slayer is there handling it, and she has more experience. Still, if it makes her Royal Highness feel better, you will be heading there once you finish high school – or turn 18 and are able to handle your own decisions. But until then, you are subject to your parents' orders, as well as my own. Am I making myself clear to you?"  
  
Before Alyssa was able to respond, they heard the sound of a window being broken. Making their way towards the source, the Slayer and Watcher found the helmet of Xander's Imperial Guard costume, and an address written in blood. 


	18. Tears

"This is Front View to Queen. Come in, please."  
  
The sudden sound of an agonized howl was heard in the background, followed by an angry voice saying, "I told you never interrupt my fun time..."  
  
"Forgiveness, mistress, but I thought it best to inform you that there have been no complications yet."  
  
"I want no more interruptions. If there are problems, deal with it," the British voice continued, irritated.  
  
"As you wish," the sentry finished, then he clipped the radio phone to his belt and was about to talk with his partner – when he felt a strange sensation in his chest, and saw an arrow sticking out from where his heart was.   
  
"What the…" the vampire said, before collapsing into dust.   
  
The other sentry was immediately on guard, and heard a slight whistle in the wind. The vampire sidestepped to the right, and just where he had been another arrow was embedded.   
  
'A sniper.' There was no doubt about it. His sire had told them who would have the audacity to challenge its betters.   
  
The Slayer.   
  
The vampire quickly charged the bushes, ready to jump to the sides from the next missile – but at the same time, ready to search for the sniper position when she fired next.  
  
As if on cue another arrow shot out which the vampire easily dodged, and he made his way into the thicket. The vampire then heard a twig break and followed the sound to its source and saw the sniper on the floor, as if she had fallen. Quickly the vampire was on top of the Slayer, wrapped his arms around her neck, and twisted resulting in the neck being broken.  
  
However, the neck didn't just break but the head fell off.   
  
'Never knew I was that strong,' the vamp thought, proud of itself. Then it heard another twig break, and it quickly turned around to find another arrow had embedded itself in his heart.  
  
The sniper immediately took out some binoculars and scanned the area, concentrating on the roof. Then the sniper put the binoculars away, and went in an arc towards the roof access to avoid being seen by any other vampires to rescue a friend.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
The thing that Alyssa feared was that no matter what she did, it would be too late for Alex. It only made her concentrate more on what she was doing. She wouldn't slip up with his life at stake, but finding him was the problem...   
  
Then she heard faint cries of pain.   
  
She ran as fast as possible towards the source, the cries getting louder and louder until she reached a skylight. Looking down, she saw Alex hanging by chains in the middle of a room, surrounded by mirrors that let her see what was done to him.   
  
She saw him twitch violently, as he was lowered into a barrel of water while the vampiress that he claimed was insane electrocuted him with a cable that she immersed in the water. Looking into a mirror, Alyssa then saw that his back was covered with deep, multiple bleeding cuts. Cuts that could only have been made with a whip.  
  
She wanted to just break through the skylight and stake Drew or whatever her name was, but then she realized that she would lose the element of surprise.   
  
The young Slayer continued running forward, hoping to find an open access point that would take her into the building – and as if luck was with her, she found one. She opened the door and slipped in as fast as she could, while using stealth.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"I could do this all night," Drusilla emphasized.  
  
"Maybe you should find other hobbies," Xander said weakly. He didn't know how much longer he could last. He lowered his head, and then felt a finger on his chin, raising it.  
  
"You can't die so soon, kitten," Drusilla said. "The party hasn't even started yet. The main guest hasn't arrived yet. She's bein' a very rude girl..."  
  
"Tell ya what," he said in a pathetic voice. "You wait here, and I'll go get her for you."  
  
She slapped her victim. "Never fib!"   
  
Drusilla then reached into her dress, and drew from it a Kris with dried blood. With her tongue, she ran it up and down the blade and was about to slice him up – when she dropped the Kris, and quickly turned around and clapped her hands together. Opening them, Xander saw something fall and clattered to the floor.   
  
It was a crossbow bolt.   
  
Drusilla quickly ordered her minions into the fray; and from her hiding place, the Slayer emerged to battle the monsters once again. As the vamps charged at the redhead, she held her ground – which somewhat confused the undead. They were expecting her to charge at them or to retreat. Even Drusilla was puzzled.  
  
But in Alyssa's head, she remembered Alex's advice. 'Even though they're deadly, vampires aren't really that tough. They rely on their strength, numbers, and fear. They also tend to charge at their opponents. Other than that, they got no tactics.'  
  
She knew what to do. Tucking in her thumb, Alyssa then stepped to the side as she struck a vampire in the neck with the ridge of her hand. The impact caused it to fall to the floor. The other vampire crashed into the wall.  
  
'Just as he said,' she thought. 'All fangs but no brains...' as Alyssa then staked the one she had down. Then she turned around and staked its partner, who charged at her yet again.   
  
But before she was ready, Drusilla caught her off guard with a punch that had her somewhat disorientated. Then before she could recover, Drusilla shoved Alyssa towards the ground. She then kicked her before she could get back up, causing her to fly back more.   
  
Hanging from his chains, Xander saw the Slayer fight a losing battle with the Nutty Rhyme. Then for some reason, he felt rejuvenated.   
  
Maybe he wasn't a goner after all. Xander then started twisting his wrists, hoping that with his sweat, he could slide the chains off. Biting back the pain, he continued to struggle because the Slayer needed him.  
  
"You don't have the advantage of 'hide 'n seek' this time," Drusilla sneered.   
  
Seizing the moment, Alyssa did a foot sweep at Dru, doing to her what Alex had occasionally done to her when they'd trained together. Seizing the moment, Alyssa got up and was going to pound Drusilla's head into the ground when her punch was blocked by the vampiress.  
  
"Naughty, naughty," she said, then Drusilla knocked the Slayer off her feet and this time it was a no-holds-barred barrage of attacks against Alyssa, as Drusilla picked up a metal rod.  
  
"Mummy is gonna give you a spanking..." the insane vamp said, and she then started beating on Alyssa.   
  
Up and down the rod went, slamming into the Slayer while in her head, Lys could only think of one thing.   
  
That she had failed.   
  
She struggled to try and get back up, but Drusilla struck her again. Then looking up at the vampiress, Alyssa saw Dru was holding it with both hands at an angle that suggested she was going to use it as a spear.  
  
She was going to be impaled in the heart, just like she killed vampires – through the heart.   
  
Alyssa looked at Drusilla, and then somehow...her executioner crumbled to dust. Who could it have been? Alex? She stole a glance at where she had last seen him, and there he was, still hanging from his restraints, motionless.   
  
"It's always good to have an ace up your sleeve, don't you think Ms. Friedman?" she heard Wesley say, as he rested a crossbow on his shoulder.  
  
Rather then yell at her sniper for not listening to her orders, the Chosen One got to her feet painfully and made her way towards Alex. "Get him down!" she barked out.   
  
In silent acknowledgment, Wesley pushed the green button on the control box, which lowered Alex to the floor. Alyssa then collapsed to her knees, as her healing from Drusilla wasn't completed yet.  
  
Wesley quickly made his way to his friend and the Slayer. As Alex reached the ground, Wes saw that what had been inflicted on the boy had greatly weakened him. He couldn't stand at all, and then the Brit saw something that surprised him.   
  
Alyssa was on her knees, hugging Alex as if he would leave if she let go and she was crying.   
  
Wesley just pulled out his cell phone and dialed 9-1-1, since that was all he could do. 


	19. Family

"It's amazing how a kidnapping can change people," Wesley muttered to himself, as he saw Alex and Alyssa actually being civil to each other as they sparred. Although there was the occasional barb between the two, they were not as bitter as they used to be.   
  
Granted with the way they argued with each other, there never was a dull moment with those two, especially during this slow time. But ever since Drusilla had been staked nearly a month ago, the only danger was the occasional vampire. And with the absence of a challenge, Alyssa was starting to get a little sloppy with her duty, until Alex suggested to him that they teach her a lesson.  
  
When they gamed, there were two important lessons they learned. The first one was common sense, to never underestimate your opponents. The second one was no matter how strong you are, there will always be someone stronger.   
  
Despite his age, his friend was an amazing young man. A jack-of-all-trades, tactician, and a decent fighter. The Watcher could see how he'd been able to survive living on the mouth of Hell...  
  
Wesley was suddenly brought out of his thoughts as he heard Alex being slammed onto the mat, hard. "Face it, Alex. You've taught me everything you know. Maybe you should teach Wesley some moves," the redhead said, as she offered her hand to her trainer.  
  
Alex smirked. "Maybe, but I know your weak point," he said, grabbing her hand.  
  
"Oh, sure Alex, I have a weak point," she said, mocking him and Alyssa hauled him up.   
  
"Yeah. Know what it is?" he said, still smirking.  
  
"Please, do tell, Alex. I'm dying to know where this fictitious weak spot is," Lys said, not believing him.  
  
"Okay, but remember you asked for it," he said, before the young man poked her in both of her sides with his index fingers, causing her to jump.  
  
"Alexander Harris, what the hell are you doing?" the girl screeched.  
  
"If memory serves right, you're ticklish in a certain spot," he said wickedly as he tackled her to the floor and began tickling her along the sides. The redhead laughing hysterically, as Xander continued his dark deed without mercy, while Wesley just sat down and watched, wishing he had some popcorn.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Arriving home, Xander opened the front door with his key and stepped inside his uncle's home. "Sorry I'm late, but Wesley wanted me to check his woodwork to see if it needed to be fixed," he fibbed as he made his way to the dining area.   
  
"Oh, you'll be sorry all right," a familiar voice, said.   
  
"Do you know how long we've been waiting to see you?" said its companion voice.  
  
"Grammy?! Grandpa!?" Xander exclaimed, before running at them, hugging them both. "When did you get back?"  
  
"Just today Alex," his grandpa Eugene said.  
  
"As soon as we heard that our favorite grandson was in town, we cut our trip short," his grandma Alexa said.  
  
"Favorite grandson?! I'm your only grandson, and what do you mean you cut your trip short?"  
  
"I meant what I said. Besides, I'm getting sick and tired of seeing that damn Eiffel Tower over and over again," his grandpa said, a little grumpily.  
  
"Besides, it isn't every day we get to see our only grandson," his grandmother said warmly.  
  
"So, how long are you here for, Alexander – or are you still going by that fool name, Xander?"  
  
"EUGENE!" his grandmother chided.  
  
"Sorry, but I never did understand the name change."  
  
"What can I say, Gramps? A girl thought it was cooler. And to answer your question, I'm here as long as Uncle Dave and Aunt Kathy can stand having me."  
  
"If that's how you feel, then you can start packing now Alex," his aunt said, smiling.  
  
"Man, I think my new cousin is going to wish he or she was an orphan with you as the mother."  
  
"Keep it up, and you'll be having my soufflé surprise," she retorted. And so the light family barbs continued into the night.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Even though she was Jewish, Alyssa never was one to turn down the deals offered during Christmas. With her friends Gilda and Rosemary, they spent the afternoon window shopping and planning for school events and the occasional gossip.   
  
Of course it didn't take long for the gossip to center on Alyssa and her relationship with Alex.  
  
"Oh come on, Alyssa, spill!" Gilda said.  
  
"What do ya mean, 'spill?' Alyssa asked in confusion. "I don't have anything to say about my 'relationship' with Alex," she said, making quotation marks with her fingers when she said the word.  
  
"You expect us to believe that?"   
  
"I'm serious. There's nothing like that between us."  
  
"Sure there isn't," Rosemary smirked. "Let the facts speak for themselves! The beginning of this year, there was all the animosity to him after what he did to Ben in the cafeteria. Then there was your detention, because you followed him into the men's bathroom. You know what they say; you do crazy things when you're in love!" Both girls started laughing.  
  
Alyssa growled. "For your information, I was going to kill him that day."  
  
"Yeah, that's another thing. One moment you're at each other's throats, and the next moment you're 'friends'. Really chummy sometimes," Gilda said, making quotation marks with the word friends.  
  
"I know that the idea of him and me being friends is a surprise, but hey, it's true," Alyssa stated. "Besides, I already have a boyfriend."  
  
"Yeah, but you spend more time with Alex than with him," Rosemary said.  
  
Rather then respond, Alyssa stayed quiet. In a way, they were right. She spent much more time with Alex than with her boyfriend.   
  
But the reason was because Alex knew about her 'sacred duty' and provided much-needed help, even though she wouldn't admit it. Then she was brought out of her thoughts when Alyssa felt her Slayer senses flare up. Something that needed to be killed was nearby, but before she could ponder it further she heard Gilda say, "Speak of the devil..."  
  
Alyssa followed the blonde girl's gaze, and saw Alex walking alongside an older man and a woman – who despite her age was still very beautiful. "Fancy meeting you here, Alyssa," Alex said.  
  
"Likewise," she said, not really paying attention as she tried to find the vampire or demon.  
  
"By the way, I want to introduce you to Eugene and Alexa Gibson, my grandparents. Grammy, Grandpa, this is Alyssa Friedman."  
  
Alyssa's concentration was broken when she felt her right palm kissed and heard, "Fancy meeting you. I didn't think Alex would have such a lovely girlfriend."  
  
"Uh, no, she's just a friend, Gramps. Besides, as a girlfriend she's not my type," Xander said.  
  
"What do you mean I'm not your type, Alex?" she said, while immediately thinking 'Where did that come from?' But before she could ask herself, she heard a feminine voice admonish the elder man.  
  
"I'm sorry for my husband's behavior, dear," Alexa said, smirking at Alyssa, "but he does tend to talk with his foot in his mouth."  
  
"Hey!" her husband protested.  
  
"It was nice meeting you Alyssa, but I think it'd be best if we left before my dear husband opens up his trap even more," she sighed, grabbing her husband by the arm and dragging him away despite his protests.  
  
"Sorry about my grandpa, Alyssa. He does tend to overdo it. But my Grammy will find a way to teach him a lesson. She always does. I'll, uh, catch you later, okay?" Xander said as he walked away to catch up to his grandparents, leaving Alyssa still wondering about the idea of Alex not being her type when she realized something.  
  
The presence of the thing that needed to be slain was gone. 


	20. Discovery

The first thing Alyssa asked her Watcher that night was if there was in way a demon or vampire could cloak itself from her senses. Wesley's response was that there was no record of it happening, and then he asked where it had happened.   
  
When she told him that it was at the mall, he became confused. From what he knew there wasn't any type of demon that would frequent a public place unless it was disguised; and even if it was disguised, there was no way it could be undetected. As a result, the Watcher and his charge spent the evening researching.   
  
However after researching all night, the Watcher and the Slayer were unable to find any leads on the demon thing that she had sensed at the shopping center. It was then that Wesley and Alyssa were startled by the door being opened, which was followed by Alex's entrance.  
  
"Don't you know that it's rude not to knock?" Wesley admonished him.  
  
Smiling, Xander said, "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt the torrid affair between a Watcher and his Slayer."  
  
Alyssa growled at him, saying, "Get the other foot out Alex," as she cracked her knuckles.  
  
'Oh boy, she's mad,' thought Xander. "Retract the claws, Alyssa," he finally said, almost pleading.  
  
"I don't know if I should. You know, I think your grandpa is being a real bad influence for you."  
  
"You don't have proof! Anyways, I just came over because my Grammy wanted to know if Wes wanted to come for dinner this Thursday."  
  
"Alex, that's Christmas Eve," Wesley said.   
  
"Actually, Grammy calls it Yule."  
  
"Yule?"  
  
"Yeah. She doesn't celebrate Christmas."   
  
"Well, I don't know if I should attend..."  
  
"Really? So you've already got plans for Thursday?"  
  
"Actually...I…I…"  
  
"You'll what, Wes? Spend the entire evening watching a Christmas movie, and catch up on your sleep?" Xander said, smirking.  
  
"How did you know that?"  
  
"I know how you think, W-man. Whoever said you don't learn anything from gaming, is dead wrong."  
  
"Are you sure it's all right? I really don't want to intrude," Wesley said with a shrug.  
  
"You won't be intruding, Wes. Grammy tends to make more food then even I can eat, and that's saying a lot. Besides, you really have to try Grammy's pecan pie."  
  
'Typical of him,' Alyssa thought smiling, 'always thinking about food...'  
  
"How about it, Lys?" Xander asked.  
  
"How about what?" she said, when her 'Slayersense' as Alex called it started going off like crazy. There was something unnatural nearby when the doorbell rang, startling Alyssa.  
  
Quickly recovering, Alyssa went to the door and opened it before Alex or Wesley could, prepared to fight the baddie. Instead, she was face to face with Alexa Gibson.  
  
"Mrs. Gibson?!?!" Alyssa said dumbfounded.  
  
"Is there a reason for the excitement you seem to have had when you opened the door?" Xander's grandma said.  
  
Alyssa looked at Alex nervously, then she looked at Wesley before saying, "I thought it was my boyfriend," she lied.  
  
"Nothing wrong with young love," Xander's grandmother said, smiling.  
  
"Grammy? What are you doing here?" Xander said.  
  
"Call me overprotective, but I wanted to make sure you and your friend aren't 'real good' friends, if you catch my drift."  
  
Alyssa started laughing, as she saw both her friend and her Watcher give each other uneasy glances. 'The humor runs in the family,' she thought.  
  
Somewhat humiliated, Xander chose to leave. After he left, Alexa looked at both Wesley and Alyssa saying, "Sorry about that last comment Wesley, but I can't have him staying out too late."  
  
Both looked at her.  
  
"Okay, so I am overprotective, but you'll understand when you get to my age. Good night to the both of you," she said as she left.   
  
Within moments of her leaving, Alyssa felt her Slayersense relax. She then looked at Wesley, saying, "Are there any demons that shapeshift, Wesley?"  
  
"Yes, of course. Why?"  
  
"Because I think I just found that mystery demon," she said, looking at the closed door.  
  
"Alyssa, you can't be serious. Alex's grandmother!?"  
  
"That's why we need to find that info, and hope that I'm wrong," she said grimly.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Christmas Eve, or Yule to the Gibson Family  
  
Alyssa was a little uneasy with what she was planning. Following Alyssa's conclusion, Wesley hypothesized that Alexa Gibson was not Alexa Gibson, but a doppelgänger. It was the only sensible explanation.   
  
Doppelgängers were creatures that could mimic to near perfection any person, in this case Alex's grandmother. After going over everything that they could find on the creature, they discovered what they needed to do. All Alyssa or Wesley had to do was get the doppelgänger isolated from the rest of the Gibson family, and hit her with the Dargent Orb.  
  
Then when the doppelgänger was rendered powerless, they would find out what happened to the real Alexa Gibson; and the doppelgänger would subsequently be killed.  
  
But the problem was in getting "Alexa" isolated, from the rest of the Gibson family. She and Wesley had been planning on how to do that ever since they arrived, and after an hour, they still had nothing.   
  
Of course it wasn't easy to concentrate on a plan while she heard hilarious stories about Alex's antics as a toddler, and it didn't take long before Alyssa began telling stories herself of the times when they were little. Some embarrassing stories, that none of his family had ever known about.  
  
"And here I was worried that you would be bored," "Alexa" said, as she stepped out the kitchen with her daughter-in-law.  
  
"Us, bored? That'll be the day mom," Xander's uncle said.  
  
"Is there a problem, love?" Eugene asked his supposed wife.  
  
"Not really, but I could use some help with the dessert. Kathy isn't feeling too good right now, and…"  
  
"I'd love to help," Alyssa said.  
  
"If it's no problem, I would like to help as well," Wesley said.  
  
Rather than object Alexa welcomed their offer, and the two guests entered into the kitchen. Once they were in the kitchen, Wesley stayed near the door and kept a lookout out while Alyssa quickly shoved the doppelgänger against the wall.   
  
Once she had done that Wesley pulled out from his pants the Dargent Orb and tossed it to the Slayer, while the doppelgänger demanded to know what she was doing.  
  
Alyssa just ignored her. "Where's the real Alexa Gibson?" the Slayer asked.  
  
Confused, the woman responded, "What?"  
  
"I'm not in the mood for your games. I know what you are. Where's the real Alexa Gibson?" Alyssa said in a threatening voice.  
  
"You don't think I'm her?" the older woman said. "What am I, then?" she asked.  
  
"How dumb do you think I am? You're a doppelgänger, and as soon as this Dargent Orb turns itself on you'll revert to your true form..."  
  
However, rather than see a defeated look in the doppelgänger's face, Alyssa was surprised when she saw "Alexa" smile. Then she started to laugh, leaving the Chosen One really confused.  
  
The laughing subsided quickly and "Alexa" then said, "That's where you're wrong, Slayer. I'm not some petty doppelgänger, and you're wasting your time with that Dargent Orb."  
  
"How...how did you know I'm a Slayer?" Alyssa asked. The knowledge that a demon that she had no knowledge of knew what she was, unnerved her somewhat.  
  
"Just as you can sense me, I was able to sense you. My grandson really does have the most interesting friends," she replied with a grin.  
  
"Who are you? What are you?" Wesley asked, puzzled why she called Alexander her grandson even though he really wasn't.  
  
"I'll gladly answer your questions, if I could get some breathing room?" the demoness said.  
  
'The night's just full of surprises,' the Slayer thought sarcastically. But this was quite a turn. This time the demon wasn't trying to fight, but parlay. Reluctantly, Alyssa let go of the demoness. "What are you? And no funny business, or I'll…"  
  
"Kill me. But then again, I would expect no less from you. Very well Slayer, I will comply but I have one request."  
  
"Don't push your luck," Alyssa said coldly.  
  
"All I ask is that under no circumstances is Alexander to know of what transpires in this room," the demoness said, almost pleading.  
  
The request seemed reasonable enough. "Okay," the Slayer responded. Wesley then took Alyssa's response, as a silent order to make sure that Alex didn't walk in on them.  
  
"I guess I can start with what I really am," the demoness said. And before Alyssa or her Watcher could react, "Alexa's" eyes began to glow red and before them large bat-like wings grew out from the woman's back, tearing through the back of her dress.  
  
As the two continued to watch, the demoness appeared to get younger, making her appear far more beautiful than ever.  
  
Neither Watcher nor Slayer could move after witnessing the transformation, but were immediately brought of their paralysis when they heard the familiar voice of Eugene Gibson calling out, "Honey, is everything okay?" as the doorknob to the kitchen turned. 


	21. Grandma

Before Wesley could move to prevent the door from being opened, Eugene Gibson entered the kitchen while saying "Honey, are you…what the-?"  
  
Wesley's mind began to search furiously for an explanation that wouldn't result with Alex entering the kitchen. "Mr. Gibson, I'm afraid that your wife is not who she says she is. She is in reality…Mr. Gibson, are you listening to me?"   
  
Alyssa watched Eugene curiously, trying to gauge what his reaction would be, when she saw something completely unexpected. The man was smiling, "Honey, are you having naughty thoughts about me again? I mean it's only been three hours, Alexa!" he said, oblivious to the other people in the kitchen.  
  
The demoness was blushing "No, I wasn't thinking of that Pookie..."  
  
"Oh, really? Then why are your wings visible?" Eugene said, then he saw the jar of honey that was out on the table. "Wait, I know," he continued, "you've found another use for honey, and it'll still be dessert right?" he said, grinning. "You're such a bad girl. You need a spanking!"  
  
The demoness got even redder and began to giggle to herself, as Eugene hugged the demoness, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "If there's anyone that needs a spanking, lover, it's you!" the demoness said, her eyes filled with mischief.  
  
"Oh, is that a promise?" Eugene said.  
  
The demoness's answer was to wrap her wings around him like a blanket as they began to kiss while Watcher and Slayer looked on in a twisted fascination and eventually the couple got loose, and turned to face the duo.  
  
"How can you do something like this to your wife?" Alyssa demanded, not even trying to hide her disgust.  
  
"Because she is my wife," Eugene said, still holding Alexa as if he was protecting her. "Till death do us part as we promised each other. What, is there a problem with a man and a succubus being in love with each other?"  
  
"A succubus! Well, that explains some things," Wesley said. "But that still doesn't explain what is going here."  
  
The succubus looked at the love of her life, and he nodded at her. He then let her go and made his way back to the dining area, closing the door behind him. She then said, "Would it be possible to continue with our task as I explain? There are three Gibson men waiting to enter the dining room, and they are well known for their appetites," she finished up, smiling.   
  
Wesley and Alyssa looked at each other, before they proceeded to help Alexa with the meal. "None of this was supposed to have happened, Slayer," Alexa finally said, still continuing with her task.   
  
"I was supposed to seduce to Hell's side a mortal who would have an important part to play in the war with Heaven – and then slay him. When I found the mortal, I began to seduce him. But he wasn't like other men, and I became far more frustrated than I had ever been," she said, smiling at the memory.   
  
"I was able to dupe him into marrying me, but when the time came to kill him, I found that I just couldn't do it. If he died, who would make me laugh? Who would make me feel the strange sensation inside me? I kept telling myself that I would kill him someday, but then I realized that for some strange reason I would miss him." Wesley noticed that she was trying not to cry.  
  
"I finally told him the truth," Alexa then sighed. "I showed him what I was, and stood there; waiting for him to turn away in disgust, over the lie he had lived. A lie that to me, had become the truth..."  
  
Another sigh. "Instead, he just looked at me in silence and then he asked me, 'What do you feel now'? I told him, for the first time in my existence, the truth. How I loved him, if it's even possible for a succubus to love. Oddly enough, I later found out that I had seduced the wrong mortal. But by then, I no longer cared."  
  
'What a beautiful story,' Alyssa thought sarcastically. 'Too bad I don't believe you. I mean, a good demon? What's next, Santa Claus?'  
  
"Believe it or not Slayer, there are good demons that are capable of love," Alexa said.  
  
Alyssa stopped what she was doing. "Maybe, but I happen to believe that all demons have to die."  
  
"Ah, I see. Well, if you insist on killing me simply because of who and what I am – then you might as well start with Alexander, shouldn't you?"  
  
Alyssa was silent. She hadn't really thought of that. If she really was Alex's grandmother, then that meant that he was…no. The succubus was lying to her.  
  
"I assure you, Slayer, that I am not in any way deceiving you..."  
  
Alyssa was starting to get frustrated. It was almost as if the succubus was reading her mind…  
  
"Stop that," Alyssa then said, as the light dawned. "I know what you're doing..."  
  
The succubus stopped what she was doing. "You're a bright one, Slayer. But it's the only way that I can assure that you won't act rashly. And as for you, Watcher? Don't even think of reporting what you know about my grandson to your damn Council. If your Slayer won't kill him, they'll send someone else to do it, even if he isn't any threat..."  
  
"What are you…are you saying that the Council will kill him, regardless of my recommendation?"  
  
"What I'm saying is, that the Council is not as altruistic as you believe it to be. Neither to their Slayers, or those they believe to be their enemies."  
  
'And you know what I speak of,' he heard Alexa's voice in his head.  
  
"How human is Alex?" Wesley said, changing the subject though shaken by Alexa's words.  
  
"Very," Alexa said, pride in her voice. She returned to her task, smiling.  
  
'Before you say that doesn't make sense, Slayer, consider this,' Alexa communicated telepathically to Alyssa and Wesley. 'The children that my husband and I created were half-demon. When Ariel and her husband begat Alexander, his demon heritage was thinned even further. He's more human than demon, a quarterbreed; and the demon blood of his children will be weakened even further.'  
  
'Then why the reluctance to inform him of his heritage?' Wesley thought.  
  
'It was not my decision to make, Watcher, but his mother's. She felt that if Alexander knew of his demon origins, he would feel like an outcast. An abomination. And he would be more susceptible to...corruption.'  
  
'Since he's part demon, does he possess any powers?' Wesley then thought suddenly.  
  
'No, he doesn't.'  
  
'Are you sure? With what you've told us right now, I was under the impression that he must eat a lot of high caloric foods for whatever powers he has to work. Have you seen him eat?'  
  
'Yes I have,' Alexa thought. 'But believe it or not, he got that from his grandfather's side of the family – and they are pure human,' Alexa thought, laughingly.  
  
Wesley laughed in his head and to both his and Alexa's surprise, so did Alyssa.  
  
'You have nothing to fear from me, Slayer. I am not in any way a threat to you. But there are three men in the dining room who will kill the three of us, if we don't get this done fast,' Alexa thought.  
  
The three continued their work and finished it, finally getting ready to serve the meal when Alyssa stopped Alexa.  
  
"What's the matter?" Alexa said.  
  
"Your wings and dress," Alyssa pointed out.  
  
"Is that all, Slayer? Don't worry. I have a very convincing story for that."  
  
"And there's one more thing, Mrs. Gibson..."  
  
"Please, Slayer. Call me Alexa."  
  
'I'm sorry,' Alyssa thought. 'And please, call me Alyssa.'  
  
The succubus smiled, then she closed her eyes and her wings began to shrink and disappear. He face again aged, and with Wesley and Alyssa helping her, Alexa entered the dining area.  
  
Seeing that the dress was torn from his grandmother's back, Xander said "Grammy! What happened to your back?"  
  
Alexa looked at her husband and said "Your grandfather was misbehaving dear, but believe me – he will be severely punished for it."  
  
A smile appeared on the face of Xander's grandfather as Xander became somewhat disturbed with the realization of what his grandparents were still doing. 


	22. Betrayl

Today was a dangerous time for any resident of the Chicago suburbs to come across Alexander Harris, for the young man's mind was occupied with excitement as he made his way to Wesley's home following school.   
  
He could see them now, beckoning him to ravage them, to have his way with them. 'It's just too bad that pastries can't talk,' he thought as he reached Wesley's home.   
  
Xander knocked on the door, and waited patiently for Wesley to open up.   
  
Nothing happened.  
  
"That's strange," he muttered to himself. 'He doesn't go anywhere and 'Melrose Place' isn't on for another quarter hour. Only one way to find out...' Xander made his way to the side of the house, and peeked through a window into the garage.  
  
Wesley's Jetta was gone, which pretty much screamed at him that Wesley was gone. But where? Oh well, nothing pleased Xander more than to razz Wesley about his security system, in other words his lack of one.   
  
He made his way towards the back yard, and towards a window. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his pocketknife and got to work on the windowsill, singing to himself 'Happy Birthday To You'.  
  
It didn't take too long for Xander to open the window and commit breaking and entering. From the 'crime scene', so to speak, Xander made his way to the kitchen on one of his 'health inspections' and his nose smelled something. Looking around, he saw on the stove a pot of tea.  
  
'What's going on? Does the W-man have a secret girlfriend?' Xander thought in horror.   
  
He entered the pantry, and decided to help himself to the Hostess stash Wes kept for them when he heard the garage door open and Wesley entered, sounding like he was arguing with someone as he came in.   
  
Xander was about to exit the pantry and mediate the argument between Wesley and Alyssa before Wes got hurt, when he heard the Watcher say, "But sir, Alyssa Friedman is not ready for the trial!"  
  
Xander immediately froze in place. 'Trial?' he thought. 'What trial?' The teenager moved closer to the door to eavesdrop.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Are you questioning my authority, Mr. Pryce?" the older man demanded.  
  
"No Mr. Travers," Wesley said in a weak voice. "It's just that in my opinion, it's far too soon for this. After all, she hasn't been a Slayer for even a year..."  
  
"Yes, you have a point there Wesley, but there is still the Slayer's family to consider. Buffy Summers, the Sunnydale Slayer undertook her trial and despite her success she has become far more rebellious, especially since we fired Rupert Giles..."  
  
Travers paused. "However, the more pressing issue we have is that we have recently discovered that your Ms. Friedman is a relation to an associate of Ms. Summers, who also happens to be a witch. There is no telling if they know the truth, and if Ms Friedman is aware of her future…"  
  
"So that explains why you're pushing ahead of schedule, am I correct?"  
  
"That is correct, Wesley."  
  
"There is one thing that worries me. Out of all the vampires that have existed, why him? The odds are...er, couldn't she participate without being weakened?"  
  
"It's part of the test, Wesley. She must learn to be resourceful."   
  
"But we know even before it starts that my Slayer doesn't stand a chance against that particular beast, especially if she's drugged for the Cruciamentum!"  
  
"Her death is a possibility Wesley, but it's also the only way to find out if as a Slayer she has truly honed her skills to the necessary level."  
  
"But surely what you're asking for, is-is pointless and impossible. You're asking her to destroy while she is powerless the one vampire which stakes have been unable to stop..."   
  
"Mr. Pryce," Quentin Travers said in a menacing voice. "With or without your help, she will be drugged. So you can either cooperate with me, or find yourself fired like Rupert Giles! Now if you don't mind, I wish to turn in, since I did have a long flight." Travers then made his way to and up the stairs.  
  
Halfway up, Travers turned around and said, "Think about it, Wesley. I'll expect your answer tomorrow morning," and he continued up, leaving a torn Watcher. He turned around and came face to face with Xander.  
  
"Alex! I didn't hear you come in."  
  
"Wes, what the hell is going on?"   
  
The color drained from Wesley's face, as he knew there was no use in trying to dance around the question. "Could we talk about this somewhere else, Alex? It isn't safe here," he said, pointing upstairs.  
  
Xander nodded, and Wesley led him to the garage. A smile crept its way to Wesley's face as he thought on how to get his friend out without being noticed. Wesley walked to the back of his car, and opened the trunk.   
  
"Get in," he told his friend, trying to hide his smile.  
  
"What?!?"  
  
"It's the only way I can leave without arousing suspicion, Alex. After all, it would be very suspicious if Travers saw me leaving the house with a passenger, wouldn't it?"  
  
Knowing that he had no choice, Xander reluctantly got into the trunk of the Jetta which Wesley closed, quickly opened the garage door and got onto the street.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Xander grimaced in pain, as he held an icepack to his head. "You were supposed to drive far enough so we could talk safely. Not drive over every speed bump you could find!"  
  
Wesley snickered. "Yes, well, onto business."  
  
"Yeah, let's get to business, and I'll get you for this one Wes."  
  
"Of course you will Alex," Wesley said in mock belief.  
  
"Believe it, buddy. So what's going on?"  
  
"How much did you overhear?"  
  
Deciding that honesty was the best policy, Xander said, "Everything. So what's the story about this 'trial' that was mentioned?"  
  
"When the Chosen One reaches her 18th birthday, she participates in a test. It's to see how good a Slayer she is. The Cruciamentum consists of the Slayer being injected with muscle relaxants to make her near powerless, and locked in a room with a vampire which she must kill using only her wits."  
  
Xander was stunned. "Alyssa's not even 17 yet, so she's not even supposed to take this so-called trial already! I bet there are some problems – and it has to do with the Sunnydale Connection, right?"  
  
"Yes. From what I understand, Alyssa hasn't had any contact with Sunnydale, but Travers is worried that your, ah, friend will contact Alyssa, given that she has learned that her cousin knows who the Slayer is."  
  
"This whole thing stinks."  
  
"And the worse part is the vampire itself."  
  
"Yeah, that's what I want to know. Who's this vamp that Don King Jr. wants Lys to fight?"  
  
"A very old vampire, named Kakistos. He is so ancient that he now has hooves for feet and hands, as well as horns growing from his head."  
  
"Talk about ugly."  
  
"Yes, but that's not the scariest part about him. Even if she was at her full strength, stakes will not work on this vampire."  
  
"He's immune to stakes?!?!"  
  
"No, his hide is just too thick."  
  
"What about your help? Can't you warn her?"  
  
"And risk Travers finding out about it? He would continue the trial, but fire me and change the location."   
  
"So, you know where it's going to be?"  
  
"Yes, but there's not much I can do about it either. I can either help Travers with preparing Alyssa for the trial and betray her, or not help and they will send a new Watcher who would most likely not appreciate your help."  
  
"Damned if you do, damned if you don't, huh?"  
  
Sighing in defeat, Wesley nodded.  
  
"There's still a third option, Wes," Xander said quietly. "But I need to know the exact procedure for the trial, and more importantly where it is." 


	23. Trial

Groaning as she placed a hand to her head, Alyssa murmured out, "Where am I?" as she slowly regained consciousness.   
  
The last thing the girl could remember was having a cappuccino at Wesley's, feeling a little fuzzy-headed as they shared some gossip, then nothing. She looked at her surroundings and saw that they were very unfamiliar, and it was very dark.  
  
Lys immediately knew that something wasn't right. She quickly scanned the room she was in for a door and thankfully she found one. The Chosen One began to make her way towards the exit slowly, so she wouldn't fall and get hurt or worse in the darkness.   
  
Reaching the door, her hand went for the knob and she gave it a twist, opening it, resulting in a loud creak coming from the door. Wherever she was, it was old.   
  
Before she could do anything else, she heard a loud, animal-like roar echo throughout the building. 'Oh yeah, something is definitely wrong here,' Alyssa thought.   
  
She made her way through the hall, moving slowly so as not to alert whatever was in the building to her presence – when she heard laughter, sinister laughter.  
  
"IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE DRANK FROM A SLAYER. ESPECIALLY A YOUNG ONE," the voice said, as it then continued to laugh.   
  
That was strange. Why couldn't she feel the monster's presence? Alyssa looked around quickly for anything that she could use as a weapon but gave up, knowing that paper cuts would be useless. 'If only I had some wood…THAT'S IT!!!' she thought as she headed for the nearest door, made a fist and punched the door.   
  
But rather than seeing the door being smashed, she instead felt a strange sensation shoot through her fist. It took a moment for Alyssa to realize what the sensation was.   
  
Pain, it was pain that shot through her fist, yet she shouldn't really be feeling any kind of pain just from a wooden door. Something was really wrong, and for the first time since she'd been called, Alyssa was really afraid.  
  
"I HEAR YOU," the voice sang out in a gloating tone.  
  
Trying not to panic completely, Alyssa ran down the hallway and came to a set of metal stairs, which she decided to ascend, quietly so as not to attract the fiend's attention. Reaching the top floor, Alyssa opened the access door and found herself on a catwalk.   
  
Making her way onto the catwalk, she leaned against the guardrail and took a look below her. She was in an abandoned factory, but how had she gotten there? 'Do I sleep walk?' she thought to herself.   
  
Then Alyssa saw some moment below her. She tried to get a better look, but all she could see was that whatever it was, it was big.  
  
"COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE!!!" she heard the creature cry out below her.   
  
Alyssa kept moving as quickly as she dared, while taking care to be silent on the catwalk, her eyes never wavering from her tormentor. It was a mistake she instantly regretted, as she felt her foot become entangled in something and the Slayer felt herself falling onto the catwalk. One of her hands knocking over something from the catwalk which fell towards the floor, making a loud clatter throughout the factory.  
  
"THERE YOU ARE!" the redhead heard below her. Daring a glance, she saw the fiend looking directly at her below, and then it turned around and ran towards the nearest door. Alyssa quickly got up, and saw what had caused her fall.   
  
It was a zipped-up sleeping bag.   
  
She started to run in the opposite direction of the stairs, as she heard the sound of booted feet running on the stairs. Adrenaline consumed her, as she began to run faster. Up ahead Lys saw that there was a missing section from the catwalk, resulting in a fall.   
  
Preferring to take her chances with the plunge than with her pursuer, Alyssa tried to increase her running speed and made her leap of faith.  
  
The sensation she felt was strange, as her body was being pulled by gravity back to the floor as she reached the other side, knocking the wind out of her body as she landed ungracefully.   
  
Still shaking somewhat, Alyssa struggled to get up and was about to continue running for her life when she heard something heavy land behind her and felt something grab the back of her neck and squeezed.   
  
"Very mediocre for a Slayer," the creature gloated, as it turned her to see her face-to-face. The fiend then swung Alyssa around so her back was to the gap, and he began to sniff the air.   
  
"Excellent," he all but whispered. "Fear adds flavor to my meal. But what should I do with you?" the vamp wondered. "Should I drain you dry? Or should I bless you with my fate?" Kakistos said, thinking of the possibilities.   
  
But before he could ponder further, he heard a voice say, "Sure you can't do much better?"   
  
Completely taken by surprise, Kakistos turned around just in time to see a young man swing something down at his head, slamming into his skull. The pain was enough to cause Kakistos to loosen his grip on his prey, when he felt another blow to his face.   
  
Howling in rage Kakistos forgot about the helpless Slayer, as he stood somewhat dazed from the attack, hearing footsteps running down the catwalk. The ancient vampire let out an enraged war cry, and began to race after the foolish human that dared to attack him.  
  
After turning a corner on the platform he immediately saw an object coming at him, he shifted his body aside and raised an arm to guard against the attack while using his other hand to grab the weapon, meeting with success.   
  
The object being used as a weapon went limp as it was discarded by its user, giving Kakistos the moment to see what it was. It was a crowbar. He bent the iron bar as if it was nothing and cast it aside.  
  
"WHAT I'VE DONE TO THIS TOY OF YOURS, IS NOTHING TO WHAT I WILL DO TO YOU!!" Kakistos shouted, as he stalked forward.   
  
After taking a few more yards, something burst against the wall inches from him. He then proceeded to inspect the impact site, and noticed a very bright colored something on the floor.   
  
Kakistos knew what they were, since his favorite snacks were in awe of them. A whistle call caused him to snap to attention, when he saw another balloon fly towards his chest, bursting on contact and splashing liquid on him causing burning pain. There was only one kind of substance that could cause this sort of pain, and it was holy water.  
  
This opponent was obviously more dangerous than the helpless Slayer. The attacks were very well coordinated. Another balloon was thrown at him, hitting his face. He brought both of his hands to face, burning those as well.   
  
Kakistos felt his face, and became even more enraged upon discovering that it was scarred. But he was quickly brought out of his anger long enough to see another balloon fly at him, and it would have hit him if he hadn't ducked. But it had given him the chance to find the location of his attacker.  
  
Charging towards a group of crates, Kakistos was pelted with another water balloon on his left shoulder; but hatred can be a powerful motivator, which was the case as the ancient vampire grabbed his attacker by the neck, bringing the hapless being out of the shadows. It was a boy.   
  
Using both of his hands, the vamp proceeded to strangle the boy – who surprisingly did not struggle. He didn't even try to break free of vise-like grip.  
  
It was then that the boy turned the tables on the vampire by pulling out another ace in the hole, so to speak. Reaching towards his back, he gripped his trump card and gave a pull and brought out his small supersoaker towards Kakistos' stupefied face and squeezed the trigger.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
As she picked herself up from the floor, Alyssa started to realize that it wasn't the end after all. Even though she was powerless, the redhead knew that wasn't a reason to just quit. Alex didn't have powers, and that wasn't stopping him from fighting.  
  
He had come to Chicago to escape from this world only to be brought back into it, helping her in a fight where she needed all the help she could get. What was it that Irene had told her the night she was told of her unwanted destiny?   
  
Oh yeah, "We each play out the parts that Fate has written for us." It was kind of ironic, Alex couldn't escape what seemed to be his destiny anymore then she could even if she'd tried.   
  
She had remembered him once being called a White Knight. An unappreciated one. Well, she didn't know about her cousin's friend, but she appreciated whatever help she could get.  
  
An anguished scream brought Alyssa out of her thoughts. From the sound of things, it didn't seem like she was going to have her partner around much longer if she didn't do something.   
  
'My partner?' the Slayer thought in surprise.   
  
'Yeah.' He was her partner. He knew what she had to deal with and go through and he sure didn't do it because it was his destiny. She also wasn't going to be the one to tell a certain succubus her only grandchild was dead.   
  
But more importantly, Alyssa couldn't let him die, and she didn't really know why.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Kakistos tossed Xander away from him as he clutched at his destroyed left eye, and cried in agonizing pain as Xander fell down one story.   
  
'It's time to end it,' the vampire thought. He jumped off from the catwalk and landed on the floor where Xander was and made his way to him slowly, alert for any more of his tricks.   
  
Weakly, Xander tried to get up and had just managed to get to his feet – when Kakistos kicked him and sent the boy back flying into a large open room. Willing himself to get up, Xander tried to reach the stairs that led to a platform in the chamber.   
  
"This is where it ends," the high school senior told himself as he tried to stand on his feet again. He had only gone up a few steps, when Kakistos reached him and kicked him up the remaining steps, his body slamming into a lever, moving it.   
  
Once again Kakistos reached him – and rather than kick him, he picked the boy up, saying, "Care to play 'toss the human'? It can be very enjoyable," the undead thing said, as he threw Xander across the room, slamming into the wall.  
  
Laughing the entire way down, the vampire walked triumphantly towards his newest victim...when he saw the Slayer enter the room.  
  
"ALEX!!" he heard her shout, as she ran to the boy and knelt down at him. Kakistos smiled even more, two birds with one stone. He walked towards the two and was already in the middle when he noticed the Slayer dash away from the boy to a switch next to the wall and pulled it down.  
  
Kakistos heard a hissing sound, and noticed that it was getting hotter. He looked down, and saw flames firing out of jets. It was the last thing he would ever see, as the intense fire burned his body.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Alex. Don't move," Alyssa said, as she got back on her knees and held Xander tightly.  
  
"L-Lys. You've gotta make sure I'm not discovered here."  
  
"What? Alex, what are you saying?" 'He's delirious,' the redhead thought.   
  
"No, I haven't lost it," Xander said as if reading her thoughts. "Just don't let the Watchers find me!" Alyssa just stared at Xander, wondering what was going on.  
  
"No time to explain. You gotta hide me, Lys. They can't ever know that I helped you."   
  
"Hang on, Alex, I'll get Wesley..."  
  
"NO! You can't tell him what's happened, or it's game over."  
  
"Game over? What's going on, Alex?" What did he mean she couldn't tell Wesley?  
  
"Trust me on this," he said weakly. "I'll be fine..." Xander finished up, before he passed out.  
  
"Alex? Alex!" she cried as she held him. She checked his pulse. He was still alive. What was he trying to tell her? More importantly, what did he know about her being here. Could she trust him?   
  
'I have to,' she thought wildly. 'He's my partner...'  
  
~*~*~*  
  
It was at times like this that Alyssa wished that her abilities included being able to will people's heads to blow up. It took everything she had to feign interest in this Travers guy's explanation of the purpose of the ritual she had gone through, to keep her mind off Alex.   
  
It downright angered her that the Council saw her as nothing more than a tool, that could be discarded and replaced at their whim. She just kept nodding in agreement, hoping that by being a good girl the bastard would simply get fed up with hearing himself talk and leave.  
  
She waited five more minutes.  
  
When Travers finally left, the first thing she did was look at Wesley, intending to tell him about Alex – but before she could say anything, Wesley slipped her a small, folded piece of paper. Opening it up, her eyes took in the message: 'Is Alex okay?'   
  
Alyssa was confused. Wesley wasn't supposed to know about Alex. 'Explain' she wrote on the paper, giving it to her Watcher.   
  
'Tell as we go get him', he wrote back. As Watcher and Slayer left the home to help a friend, Alyssa started to wonder if Alex still wanted to drown in Hostess Cream and if he would like that as a reward. 


	24. Diary of a Slayer

From the diary of Alyssa Friedman  
  
January 17, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
I know it's been a while since I've written in you, but life has gotten both hectic and complicated lately. Especially after what happened two nights ago. From what Wesley told me, something happened with the Slayer they have in Sunnydale after she took that test that that Travers creep put me through, and because Willow is a friend of hers, they were under the impression that she'd know 'bout me being a Slayer as well.   
  
It looks to Wesley and me that I was really going to be a message, no – an example to Buffy. "Cooperate with us or else," seems to be the idea. Seems like the odds were also stacked against me on purpose, according to Wesley. Even without being handicapped, that Kakistos guy would've still been trouble.  
  
Wesley was drugging me against his will, of course, in a way. Well, it was either that or Travers doing the drugs and him being fired as well. The purpose of the drugs was so that my strength and reflexes would be gone, putting me at a disadvantage, especially over that damn vamp. Thank God for Alex.  
  
Wesley told me he heard everything, and after a long conversation, they made their table-turning plan. He was going to secrete an arsenal at the test spot, while he continued to follow his orders with Travers so not to complicate things. I guess maybe not everyone in the Council is an asshole.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
January 20, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
The rumors are already flying about what Alex did to land in the hospital, and some are outrageous. One rumor is that he wound up in the hospital, because of a turf war. Another story is that it was a drug deal gone bad. The explanation for me is that I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and just about everyone believes that one.  
  
Justin, my boyfriend, is real pissed with him. He told me he was going to kick Alex's ass, for dragging me into his problems. If he only knew that he was there because of me. Alex's being released today, and I can tell he's glad because from what he told Wesley, there was no point in staying if there were no cute nurses and that he was hoping to see me show up in the Nurse outfit I wore Halloween the next time I visit him.  
  
On another side note, Travers is planning on going back to the UK and my revenge is at hand. I wanted to hurt him, but Alex suggested something better. He wouldn't tell me what it was, only that I'd like it. I hate surprises, but I'm going to trust Alex on this one. He told Wesley and me that we just needed to keep Travers distracted.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
January 21, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
I am in such high spirits right now. While eating dinner, we caught the news and heard how at the airport a British Airways passenger was detained after Mace was found in his carryon luggage. The suspect was pulled to the side and he made such a ruckus, refusing to cooperate, that he was arrested.  
  
As they were pulling out the Mace, the security guards also wound up pulling out women's lingerie that was in his luggage, and a bio on J. Edgar Hoover. I wish I could've seen the expression on Travers' face, as he was on seeing that. I guess Alex's method really was better.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
January 29, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
Is it me, or has Alex suddenly become popular overnight? Ever since word spread about him being in the hospital for saving me (half-true, we did it together), the girls think of him as a Prince Charming. Also take into consideration that confrontation in the cafeteria last year, the "Bathroom Gambit" (which also started those stories of him and me as well) he's becoming infamous among the 'in' crowd.   
  
I also hear that the geeks are calling him "D-Boy" or something like that, because he's dangerous. It fits him, especially after he humiliated me with detention. On top of that, girls who wouldn't be caught dead with him are suddenly asking me what kind of a person he really is. It's like he won the girl lottery.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
February 12, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
Justin dumped me today, and the strange thing is I'm not really that upset about it. It's strange, when he told me why we were now splitsville. He said I spend more time with Alex than I do with him, and it's true. Alex is someone I can talk to when it comes to my "job," and he listens to me.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
March 23, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
Alex frustrates me sometimes, so much that I think I'm going to kill him. Lately I've been spending more time with him, and have actually started to enjoy his company. I guess he grew on me.   
  
Anyway, we went to watch 'The Sixth Sense' with Bruce Willis (as friends) and at the theater, I caught him checking out some of the girls there. One of the girls that he saw was at the box office – and she looked like a real cheap slut, especially with all that makeup, real short dress and that haircut. Alex is a nice guy, but he has real bad taste in women.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
April 21, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
This is too funny not to write down, because Alex is in quite a mess. Two days ago, Ben broke up with Tabitha for some college floozy he met a week ago. Anyways, yesterday the last batch of exchange students arrived and Tabitha got stuck with showing a Russian girl around.   
  
So Tabitha took her on a tour and wound up bumping into Ben. Tabitha broke into tears, and the Russian girl and me went after her. I followed Tabitha because she's my friend, but I was curious as to why the Russian followed. Either she was sticking with the idea of following Tabitha because she was the tour guide, or because she was also curious.  
  
But get this. To my surprise, the new girl started talking to Tabitha like she was Dr. Laura, and got the full story. She asked her how she felt about Ben and his bimbo. Tabitha said that she wished the bimbo would dump Ben for Alex, because Ben really hates him on account of what happened in the cafeteria last year and that would really make him mad.  
  
The Russian sort of smiled, but she also looked kind of disappointed. Anyways, what she then did was say, "Done." I looked at her while thinking, 'What is she saying?' and she had changed from a pretty girl to a peeled-faced thing, and then she vanished.   
  
Here's where it gets real interesting. Okay, Alex and me were walking to Wesley's when a blue Mustang convertible pulls up to the corner, and Ben and his college girl were in it, with her at the wheel of course. So while Ben is insulting Alex and trying to goad him into another fight (he'll never get over that) to show how tough he is, she's totally checking him out and she likes what she sees.  
  
Then she does the unthinkable. She tells Ben to get out of the car, and gestures for Alex to get in. The look on Alex's face was priceless, while Ben's was red with anger. I looked at him…okay, okay, honestly I was glaring at him and Alex said he couldn't. So Ben got back in the car and they sped off, most likely while arguing. This can only get better, besides Alex can definitely do better than her. Take me, for example…  
  
~*~*~*  
  
April 25, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
How does he do it? Alex can't stay out of trouble for five minutes. Remember that Russian girl I told you about? Well, she had her eyes on Alex all day yesterday. From what I was able to find out, Ben's ex-ditz did whatever she could to ensnare Alex, and I mean the works.   
  
From dressing real cheap (much more cheaper than when she was with Ben) to actually waiting for him in his bed, naked underneath the covers. She went all out for him – and nothing happened. I'm guessing that her direct way made him uncomfortable, and scared him off (especially since she's trying to seduce him with his relatives in the house at the same time). Anyways she also attracted the Russian girl's attention and according to her, the ditz wished that Alex wound up with a bitch from Hell.   
  
From what the exchange student told me, she wound up granting the Wish, and her power center was destroyed. It turns out that the girl was some kind of wish-giver. Kind of like an evil fairy godmother, and since she was a literal hell-bitch, she became part of the Wish.  
  
It was like watching one of those trash talk shows. One moment the girl is cursing Alex and saying things like "men are evil" or "that they should suffer", while trying to physically assault him. And the next, she wants him to take her now and "to hell with the condoms", while trying to rip his clothes off right in front of me.   
  
That Wish must have given it to her real bad. Even Wesley had some laughs at his predicament, but if Alex and her really did any 'funny business', she'd be the least of his worries.  
  
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, which was the case when the girl's boss came by. I don't remember what happened after the demon came in (except he was very polite) – but next thing I know, both demons are missing. Wesley and Alex are looking into what they can about either demon – but it won't be easy, since we didn't even get a name for either of them.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
May 17, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
I think I'm crushing on Alex. Looking back on it, I wonder what kind of a fool I was. I mean, it was so obvious. It was jealousy I felt when he was ogling some girl, or when that bimbo and that demon girl pursued him. But the thing that really gets me is that the big dope hasn't even noticed. Typical. He only sees me as a friend, and I guess part of him thinks that there's no way I would ever be interested in him like that.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
May 21, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
I did it!!! I finally did it!!! I asked Alex if he'd go to the Prom with me, and he said yes. I'm surprised no one else has asked him. I guess they're afraid of being seen with him; despite the fact they find him attractive. Of course, he probably thinks it's a "we're going as friends" thing, but I'm going for broke. He can be such a pessimist sometimes.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
June 16, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
Sorry I haven't written in a while, but I've been real busy. Mainly with SAT's, school, "work," and graduation. Two more hours, and it's all over. Anyways, time to talk about the Prom. Okay, so I wound up renting a royal blue dress and was busy with my hair (Alex wonders why, since I have short hair) when he finally decided to show up.  
  
While my parents grilled him, I finished getting ready. And when I got downstairs, I hardly recognized him. He was actually wearing a tux (rented, of course) and he was real nervous, especially around my parents. Of course, being lawyers will do that to you.  
  
Anyways, I was reminded to watch out for Alex and my dad, he warned him not to try any "monkey business". Alex decided not to respond. He probably figured that he'd get out quicker if he did. My parents saw us to the front door, and to their complete astonishment (as well as mine) Alex was leading me to a horse-drawn carriage! As he opened the door for me so I could get on, I overheard my mom tell my dad in an annoyed tone of voice, "You've never taken ME on one of those!" before we pulled away.  
  
The evening before we arrived turned out to be wonderful. He took me to an Italian restaurant, and from there we went to the hotel where the Prom was being held, where he showed that he can be a wonderful person.   
  
Then it happened.  
  
Ben was taunting Alex, insulting him with anything he could come up with from his family to his sexuality just to get him to fight. In short, he was being like totally obnoxious.   
  
Alex just walked away so as not to spoil this night, when Ben attacked him from behind. My reaction was to see if Alex was all right when Ben shoved me back, calling me a slut just for being around with him.   
  
My natural instinct was to go all out on him when Alex suddenly slugged Ben in the face, staggering him. Then before he could recover Alex followed with a sweep kick knocking him off his feet resulting in Ben hitting the floor, then I kicked him in the face sending him to La-la Land.   
  
He looked at me in regret, but before he could say something I told it was okay. Ben was the one looking for trouble, not him. The rest of the night was uneventful and no I didn't win Prom Queen but amazingly, it didn't bother me because Alex was with me. Why take that when I have him.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
July 2, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
Well, it's official. The Watcher's Council is sending me to UC Sunnydale on a full scholarship, as part of the Sunnydale package. Wesley is going as well to continue his duty in watching over me, but in also watching over Buffy.   
  
It seems that after her test her Watcher was fired and stayed that way, just helping her unofficially. And when his replacement turned out to be an evil woman into dark magicks, she was killed and Buffy refused to listen to the Council anymore; she even threatened to murder the next one they sent to her, just on general principles.  
  
Still, now Wesley will be handling the two of us. From what I've heard of Buffy through Alex, I don't like her – but I might as well as get used to her, since we'll be working together.  
  
Alex is another thing. I had a hard time trying to get him to return to Sunnydale with me, but he is returning. I guess I owe it all to telling him that I need someone to protect me, while I'm over there. Of course the thought of me going into an unfamiliar area inhabited by vampires, demons and a negligent Slayer isn't too comforting with him either.   
  
But I still couldn't convince him to face Buffy or Willow. By the way, I finally told Alex that I thought Angel was a human. He was surprised and I told him that Wesley was supposed to tell him that. We're going to get him for that.   
  
It tears me up, as I want him there, helping me. But more importantly I want him to be there with me, especially when we go on our patrolling "dates". We'll come up with something, because I'd feel a whole lot better with him watching my back than Buffy from what he told me about her. Slaying isn't a popularity contest over who can kill more vampires. It's War.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
July 8, 1999  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
For three nights, I've had the same dream. It's dark, and me and a blonde girl that I assume is Buffy are together. Then I see a shadow walking over towards us from across the place we are. As the shadow gets closer to us, the two of us raise our guard when we see the shadow's face.   
  
It's Alex. I hug him, not worrying that Buffy sees us when I let him go. He then walks to Buffy and is facing her. Then he strikes, pulling out a knife he stabs her in the abdomen. She closes her eyes, and staggers from the pain. I'm looking at Alex, and he's smiling. What does this mean? 


	25. Aces

Alyssa Friedman was practically fuming, as she exited the elevator and made her way to the apartment Alex and Wesley shared. On the other side of the door, she heard both of them arguing.   
  
"Starbuck and Athena, without a doubt, married."  
  
"I find that highly unlikely, Alex. Everyone knows Cassiopeia was the love of his life..."  
  
"Cassiopeia was something like a prostitute Wes, and I doubt Starbuck took to slumming. And don't get me started on that hairstyle she had..."  
  
Her partner and Watcher were arguing over something as pointless as an old TV show. Alyssa simply could not believe it. She knocked on the door and didn't wait long, as Xander opened it.   
  
Before he could invite her inside the Slayer barged in past him, straight towards Wesley's room, where she saw his open suitcase on the bed. "What's this about you going to Los Angeles?" she said, demanding an answer.  
  
"It's not my fault Ms. Summers persuaded the Council to send me on this 'important' job of keeping on eye on a vampiress," Wesley said, not even looking up at her as he went about packing. "It's also not my fault if she thinks I'm an idiot for not seeing it as an excuse to get rid of me," he grinned.   
  
"And you're still going, why?" she asked him, demanding an answer.   
  
"It's an important job," she heard Alex say from behind her.   
  
Alyssa turned around, glaring at Xander. "And I take it that you're going along, to keep him out of trouble?"  
  
"Somebody's got to," Xander responded snidely.  
  
"You're both up to something," she said accusingly.  
  
"What makes ya think that?" Xander asked, raising his arms in mock hurt.  
  
"I know you," she said simply. "You're going with him, so Blondie doesn't even get the idea that you're back. Look, aren't you blowing this way out of proportion? I'm sure she's realized you were right in doing what you did by now..."  
  
"Sure she has, and my mom's a demon," Xander said sarcastically.  
  
"You're imagining things, Alyssa. Can I get you something?" Wesley asked, trying to both change the subject not laugh as he stopped packing and made his way to the kitchen while thinking 'If he only knew.'  
  
"I'm fine. I just don't like the way she is to you," Alyssa said to Wesley, following him out his room and into the lounge. Xander followed her and decided to sit on the couch. "Sure she's still pissed about that test," Alyssa continued "but I don't see why she's taking it all out on you, just because you work for the Council."  
  
"It's not that bad, Alyssa. She actually did me a favor, whether she knows it or not," Wesley called out from the kitchen.  
  
"Meaning?" Alyssa said. "I really want to hear this excuse."   
  
"He's basically getting paid to do a whole lot of nothing," Xander said. Alyssa looked at Xander, then she noticed that behind the boy and next to the door against the wall there was another suitcase.  
  
"You sneaky little weasels," Alyssa swore.  
  
"What?" Xander said.  
  
"Something tells me your so-called observation assignment isn't a milk run," Alyssa said.  
  
"Well, we do have to find that vampiress Ms. Summers wants located and it could take a while to find her."  
  
"Long enough to merit packing, right?" Alyssa said sarcastically.   
  
"Hey, do you know how hard it is to find one person in a big city?" Xander said.  
  
"It would be real hard if Buffy hadn't given Wesley her address," Alyssa snarled, starting to lose her temper.   
  
"Man, I'd hate to be your husband."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean, Alex?" Alyssa growled. He was starting to ask for it  
  
"You know. I mean, do I have to ask you for permission to go anywhere? Or should I get a permission slip signed by my mom?"  
  
"You two need to stop fooling around, 'cause I need both of you. I can't depend on Buffy with her "my town, my rules" attitude, and treating me like the dumb little sister when it comes to Slayage just because I'm newer at it than her."  
  
"We'll only be gone for a week, Lys," Wesley said as he entered the lounge with a mug of tea. "And I doubt Rupert will let the town get sucked into Hell without us here," he continued, as he sat down in the sofa across from Xander.  
  
"I'm more worried about you two repeating what happened in Roswell," Alyssa said 'And flirting with trampy, blonde waitresses,' she added in thought, remembering that night. "I'm not going to bother breaking you two of out jail again. Next time, I'm leaving you there!"  
  
"Do you have to keep bringing that up, Lys?" Xander groaned, putting a hand to his forehead. "It wasn't my fault. That Michael creep threw the first punch!"  
  
"And that gives you a reason for slamming his face into a Dr. Zaius banana sundae?"  
  
Wesley started snickering at that memory of the local boy's face covered in chocolate syrup and whip cream. Alyssa turned away from Xander to Wesley, "And don't get me started on you, Wesley. Flirting with his friend's sister," she snarled again.  
  
"She was flirting with me, Lys. She's not even of age yet."  
  
"Don't you 'Lys' me. Corrupting that poor girl? You know, I'm kind of glad her brother went after you – but did you really have to overturn tables and throw chairs?"   
  
Then she pointed at Xander continuing, "And don't even think that I've forgotten about you! Crashing through the window with that guy as if you were in a Western movie, ending with the three of you in jail – all because Alex was flirting with Michael's girlfriend. I must have been insane, breaking you out of there."  
  
"Would it help if we promised to be good, Lys?" Xander asked innocently. Alyssa looked at Xander who continued, holding up his hand, "I solemnly swear to stay out of trouble. You too, Wes."  
  
Wesley mimicked Xander's actions, and Xander continued with Wesley repeating, "And that if we get in trouble Alyssa is entitled to leave us in jail, since that place is safer then a angry Slayer. Even if she is cute when she's mad, and that we won't try to seduce the arresting pair of female officers, even if they do use their handcuffs."  
  
Alyssa glared at both of them, and for a moment Wesley thought Alex had gone too far when she turned on her heels and left, shouting, "Don't say I didn't warn you!"  
  
Wesley looked at Xander, who looked back at him and said, "What'd I say?"  
  
Wesley sighed. He could still not believe that Alex was completely clueless to the fact that Alyssa cared for him THAT way.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
A few days later  
  
"So, Wes, we finally managed to find our way out of the Magic Mountain parking lot," Xander was saying with a grin as he drove his friend's silver Jetta, "Now, who's this big bad vampire we have to deal with?"  
  
Wesley looked over at his friend, wondering if he should tell him now. He would find out one way or another as to whom they were supposed to keep an eye on, but telling him now was not a very good idea.   
  
To top it off, he was also driving and the last thing Wes wanted was his new car being destroyed by his friend. "In due time Alex, but first I say we find an All-You Can Eat joint."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
UC Sunnydale dorm  
  
It was that dream again. She'd stopped having it a month and a half ago, but deep down Alyssa knew it wasn't gone. Once again she saw herself and Buffy entering a cave, looking for something.   
  
Unfortunately, the one problem with dreams is that there is no camera angle switch button to hit so she couldn't see why they stopped, and only began to react again when she saw Alex.   
  
Lys hugged him, not caring that Buffy was either angry with or hated him. Then, after she let him go he walked towards Buffy and looked to be real pissed with him when from behind his back, he pulled out a knife and stabbed her in the abdomen.  
  
Buffy closed her eyes shut with pain, and she collapsed to the ground while Alex just held the knife, blood dripping from it and smiling. Before she could do anything else, his face morphed into that of a soulless vampire, attacking her and then everything went black.  
  
Waking up from her nap, Alyssa looked at her watch. She'd been out for three hours. She reached for the phone, and dialed the number to the guys' cell – but after eight rings, she hung up. She was starting to get worried.   
  
Even though she knew those two were probably goofing off, that wasn't what worried her. Rather it was whom Wesley was supposed to meet with, and more importantly what the meeting would do to Alex.  
  
From what Alyssa did know, Alex had dated the woman before she became a vampire – and she suspected that they might have even loved each other. Both knew without a doubt about the happiness clause that came along with the curse of a soul, but would they be able to resist each other and stay away? Would they try to rekindle their relationship, despite the danger?  
  
And if Cordelia Chase did lose her soul, what would happen to Alex once he realized that he had no choice but to destroy her, lest she restart on her rampages? 'Why didn't you try and stop him?' Alyssa sighed, as she asked herself.  
  
Would Xander be able to stop her, destroy her? Or was the dream really a prophetic vision of the future? Would he become a vampire, and if he did would she be able to destroy him? What would the effects of becoming a vampire have on him, especially when he was a quarter-demon (even if he didn't know it)?  
  
Would it "activate" any demon powers he might possess that his grandmother may not be aware of? It seemed that she might need to pay a visit to Ariel Harris.  
  
The knocking on the door brought Alyssa out of her thoughts, irritating her. She was getting tired of this. The Slayer groggily got off the bed, and headed to the door. Gripping the handle she turned it, opening the door saying, "No, I am NOT her just because I look like her, and NO I won't sign any autographs!"  
  
Instead of seeing the fans at the door as she was expecting, she saw a blond haired girl with some suitcases next to her. Alyssa immediately knew who she was. "I take it that you're my roommate," she said apologetically.   
  
The blond nodded her head, as if afraid that the redhead would bite off her head.  
  
"Sorry about before, here let me help you," Alyssa said, grabbing the blonde's suitcase and bringing it inside – where she put it next to the unoccupied bed. "I'm Alyssa. Alyssa Friedman," she said, holding out her hand.  
  
The blonde girl shook the redhead's hand, saying, "I'm Amy Madison."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
As Xander and Wesley arrived at the door for "Chasers for Hire," the silence was interrupted by the sound of a woman' shriek.   
  
"GOD DAMN IT! WHOEVER HEARD OF A VAMPIRE PUTTING OUT A RESTRAINING ORDER?!"  
  
Wesley looked at his friend, who just shrugged and putting his hand to the doorknob, turned it and gave the door a push and both entered. As both entered the office, they came upon a dark-haired man who looked at them questionably.   
  
"Can I help ya?" he asked in an Irish accent.  
  
Before either could respond, Cordelia Chase – clad from head to toe in black leather – came out from what was her office ranting, "Can't we do anything about this, Doyle? Because I'm not letting those snakes get away with...YOU?!" she seethed at Xander, recognizing him.   
  
Before Xander could say anything Cordelia shifted her face to the familiar one of a vampire when it feeds and charged at the young man, grabbing and pinning him onto a nearby desk with her left hand.   
  
From the right sleeve of her jacket a wooden stake came out, prompting her to raise that arm and lower it, while saying to him, "Die." 


	26. Family 2

Sunnydale, California. Harris Residence  
  
Although it may have been years since she had last visited the town, Alyssa Friedman still knew her way around Sunnydale (or as Alexander called it, SunnyHell) to get to her cousin Willow's house, which was conveniently located next door to Alex's old home.  
  
Her cousin was currently at the high school library, keeping watch on her werewolf boyfriend – considering it was "that time of the month", as Alex had put it – meaning, Willow wouldn't see her arrive at Alex's former residence.  
  
It seemed to Lys that the life of a Slayer was far crazier than that of a teenager. She ran through her list again mentally...   
  
Her once-removed predecessor was a necrophiliac that was in love with a vampire, who happened to have a soul and so therefore wasn't evil. But he became evil again when he had sex with said Slayer, which had resulted in Alyssa's childhood boyfriend destroying said bloodsucker after he'd gotten his soul back – because if he hadn't, the whole world would have been plunged into Hell.  
  
This had then resulted with him having to get out of town, after her cousin – who from what she'd found out upon the "family reunion" was a novice witch, and also dating a werewolf – had threatened his life for doing what he'd done.  
  
This had resulted in her coming across him in Chicago, which after a misunderstanding, the two of them had started on a love-hate relationship – which had improved, granted, after they'd had to deal with one really daffy vampiress, who'd really had it in for him.   
  
Then to spice things up even more, she'd found out that her childhood boyfriend was not as normal as she'd once thought – because his grandmother happened to be a succubus, but he didn't know that because his mother didn't want him thinking he was a freak or better than everyone else.  
  
'Why me?' the young Slayer thought again, as she walked up to the door. Reaching the front door, Alyssa rang the doorbell. She didn't have to wait long, as she heard the sound of running feet get louder as they got closer to the door.   
  
The Slayer heard the sound of the doorknob turn and the door was opened by a smiling, mature-looking brunette woman wearing glasses – and with a fashion sense that could have had her pass as a younger sister to Buffy's former Watcher, Giles.  
  
The woman's smile receded from her face, on seeing who was at the door.  
  
"Can I help you?" the woman said, in a somewhat cold and rude tone of voice.  
  
"Is Ariel Harris here?" the Chosen One asked, trying to keep her cool.  
  
The woman smiled at the Slayer, and slammed the door right in her face while saying, "Go away!"  
  
Alyssa stole a quick glance at the house next door, and saw that it was her cousin's home. Then she looked at the house's number that was the same as Alexander had lived in.  
  
Ringing the doorbell again, the girl didn't wait long as the door was opened - this time by a blonde woman, her hair in a braid, wearing a small bell around her neck and who appeared to be in the middle stage of pregnancy.  
  
"I'm so terribly sorry about my sister's behavior," she offered apologetically as she looked at Alyssa. "It's just that I told her to get rid of any redheaded girls and she was expecting someone else," the pregnant woman said, looking over the young woman in front of her who was wearing a white top, a knee-length blue jean skirt, and thong sandals.  
  
"I'm more of an auburn," Alyssa said with a little annoyance.  
  
"Cute – but in her eyes, red is red. What can I do for you?"  
  
"I'm looking for an Ariel Harris. Are you her?" Alyssa said.  
  
"Maybe. Who wants to know?" the woman said patiently.  
  
"A friend of your son," the Slayer shrugged. 'And hopefully even more,' she thought privately.   
  
The woman looked at the unfamiliar girl, when a smile entered her face. "Now I know where I've seen you! You're the one Mom told me was the Slayer. The redhead that couldn't keep her eyes off my Alexander, at graduation..."  
  
"So, that's a yes?" Alyssa responded.  
  
"Please come in," the blond woman said in a joyous tone. "Have you heard from my son? How's he doing?"  
  
"You mean you haven't seen him yet?" Alyssa said, stepping into the house.  
  
"Not since his high school graduation. Why do you ask?" Ariel said, confused, as she led Alyssa to the living room where the older woman sat down on the couch. The redhead quickly sat down across from her.  
  
'Oh well, it's a good thing I've got nothing to do for a few hours,' Alyssa thought. "He's doing fine," the young woman said. "But I'm asking you, because we've been living in Sunnydale for the past week and a half."  
  
"Really? Hmm, this wouldn't have anything to do with Willow Rosenberg and that blonde friend of hers, would it?"  
  
Alyssa just looked at Ariel, not knowing what to say.  
  
The older woman smiled. "I may be blonde, Slayer, but then again I'm not exactly human. You'd be suspicious too, if your only child-" Ariel stopped.   
  
Then, while patting her belly, she continued, "-at the time, decided to just up and leave his home after his girlfriend was murdered without telling his redheaded best friend of sixteen years where he was going, and especially when he told me not to tell anyone where he was headed. Then add in the fact that Willow started to drive me crazy, with her constantly asking me if I'd heard anything..."  
  
The woman laughed, an ugly sound. "If you want more proof, she also brings her lycanthrope boyfriend around – werewolf, if you've never heard the word before – to see if he can pick up a scent to track my son, and resorting to using magic in an attempt to find him when her hacking didn't get her anywhere!"  
  
Alyssa looked at Ariel. 'Just how much does she know?'  
  
"Interesting, don't you think? What can be garnered through magic."  
  
"You use magic?" Alyssa said. If she could use magic, then maybe...  
  
"Of course I can use magic, Slayer. Only another witch could interfere with any witch's work," Ariel said smiling. "Besides, how else can I explain my lack of cooking skills?"  
  
'Well, at least I won't have to worry about magic if my dream happens,' Alyssa thought. "Mrs. Harris-"  
  
"Please, Slayer, I do have a name."  
  
"Okay then, Ariel. But the real reason for my visit is because of Alex."  
  
"Really now? And why is that?" Ariel said, her smile growing.  
  
"I've been having these dreams about your son...."  
  
"Oh? Were there any chains, whips, or leather?"  
  
'WHAT?' Alyssa screamed in her head. "N-NO!!!!" she sputtered out.  
  
"No? Then did I have grandchildren, by any chance? Or were you his mistress, like his last girlfriend could have been – someone who, I may add, had much potential as dominatrix?"  
  
Alyssa's face turned a deep crimson hue, and started to think that coming by here was probably a bad idea. But she needed to know more about Alex, both for personal and professional reasons, in case her dream did happen.  
  
"What's with the bell?" Alyssa asked, wanting to change the subject.  
  
"The bell...well, I do have to get my slave…uh, husband's attention somehow, whenever I need something that I don't want to trouble my sister with. But then again, I pretty much have him wrapped around my finger now."  
  
"And how did that change occur? Alex once told me that his dad wore the pants in the family..."  
  
Tossing back her head with laughter, Ariel responded, "That may have been true at one time – but after my son left, I'd had enough of Robert feeling sorry for himself and the 'blaming others' game. It wasn't my parents that disowned him for marrying me, or using their connections to make it impossible for him to get a job. So I took charge," she said, pointing to a picture of an attractive, clean-shaven dark-haired man standing behind the blond woman, his arms around her waist, smiles on both of their faces.  
  
Looking at the picture of the couple, Alyssa looked back at the older woman. The idea that this woman could domesticate the man that Alex had told her was a bit of a drunk and sat around the house watching Ricky Lake and Jerry Springer all day, just didn't make sense.  
  
"You needn't look at me like that, Slayer. I'm more than just a pretty face. I do happen to be a literal witch and my mom is a succubus, so I DO know how to keep a man in line. Besides, I'm not going to make the same mistake of allowing my child to grow up without a good father just because we have some problems. Besides...he doesn't seem to mind that I wear the pants now."  
  
'Yes, this is going to be an interesting day,' Alyssa thought.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Just the sound of Cordelia Chase saying, "Die" to him, was enough to bring Xander Harris out of his dazed stupor.  
  
As she plunged the stake that she held in her right hand down towards his heart, Xander shot out both of his hands, grabbing her attacking arm and exerting every ounce of strength he could muster to prevent his unforeseen death.  
  
However, there was no way he could outlast a vampire, let alone his former girlfriend. As Xander struggled to hold off the plunging stake, he called out to Wesley – who was fighting the other man a few feet away, "Wes! I thought you said she had a SOUL!"  
  
"Well, I was told she did!" the British man grunted, as he dodged a punch from Doyle.  
  
Xander grimaced, as the point of the stake pressed hard against him. "Okay, call me nuts, but the real Cordy wouldn't want to kill me!" he grunted in pain. "Well, most of the time anyway..."  
  
Cordelia barely heard the exchange, as she tried to plunge the stake into her former boyfriend's heart. But that finally ended a few more moments later, when she felt it.  
  
Her mind hardly registered it at first, but there was no doubt that she was feeling a small rhythmic movement under her hand as she squeezed his neck. Cordelia felt it for a microsecond longer, and then paused.  
  
"No, it can't be..." Xander heard her murmur, as she dropped the stake, clattering as it hit the floor. She let loose on her grip and backed away suddenly in shock, horrified of what she had almost done.  
  
Doyle looked at her. "Cordy, what's wrong? Why aren't ya making with the staking?"  
  
Cordelia only pointed at Xander. "He's...he's alive. He's got a pulse."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Uh, yeah, don't I normally have one?" Xander asked, very confused. But before he could say anything else, he was on the receiving end of the biggest hug he'd ever received.  
  
"I thought you were dead," Cordy whimpered, as she clung to Xander, not letting go of him as the flood of memories that kept replaying her head returned to her over the last night she'd been alive with him.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Sunnydale, California. April, 1998  
  
On the night after the incident with the swim team, when they'd showed each other how much they truly cared in that hotel room, Cordelia moved her naked body close to Xander's. And closed her eyes, as the cheerleader felt her boyfriend wrap his arms around her. "Good night, Xander," Cordelia said as sleep overcame her.  
  
And as the girl was drifting off she heard him say, "Good night, Cordy. I love you."   
  
Queen C became instantly awake when she heard him say those words, but to him she looked fast asleep.   
  
"Cordy?" she heard him ask. Since she didn't respond to him, Cordy then heard him mumble, "Great. I finally get up the backbone to say it, and she pulls a Sleeping Beauty on me. Then again, she would be exhausted after four hours..." Xander said, grinning.  
  
When she heard him snoring a few minutes later, Cordy turned and looked at him with tears in her eyes. 'He loves me. I've gotta tell him how I feel, that I love him too – tomorrow. Besides he looks so sweet, sleeping like that...whoa, girl! You need to get some shut-eye, before you sneak back into the house,' she thought, as the young woman wrapped her arms around his sleeping form and moved as close as she could to him  
  
A few hours later, an immaculately dressed Cordelia leaned down to give her boyfriend a quick kiss and left the room into the early morning night. Walking towards her car, her mind set on getting back home before Daddy found out she wasn't there, Cordelia failed to realize that she was being followed.  
  
Her attacker struck without warning, knocking her unconscious just as she reached her car. When she regained consciousness, the first thing that she became aware of was that she was hearing singing.  
  
Opening her eyes, the brunette teenager saw Drusilla sitting at a table with some dolls, appearing to be playing "Tea Party" – but then again, she was crazy. Cordy then gasped, when she saw that Drusilla was looking her way, knowing that she was awake.  
  
"About time you got up, Cordy – oh, can I call you Cor? That's what your lapdog Xander calls you, isn't it? Even Angel could sense the arousal you'd get, when he used his little nickname for you," she then heard a very familiar voice say, as she got up from the ground.  
  
Cordelia's heart froze as Angelus stepped out of the shadows towards her, smiling upon seeing her horrified face.   
  
"You know, lately, I've been thinking on why I haven't been able to get that whining blonde to take me seriously anymore. I mean, entering Willow's room and killing her fish didn't seem enough. Neither did trying to kill that guy she's been seeing, the one that's in a band? Well, at least I got his parents, so that's some consolation..." the soulless demon chuckled.  
  
As she listened to Angelus, Cordelia was doing the best she could not to break down in front of him; but all that accomplished was to encourage Angelus even more.  
  
"Snapping that gypsy bitch's neck would have been fun – but thinking on it, why not two for the price of one? Dooming Jenny to spend the rest of her life in a living prison and a state of near death is so much more satisfying – unless of course, you happen to be a certain tweed-wearing bookworm. But she seemed to brush that off like it was nothing. Gee, what to do, what to do? Of course, maybe if I went after her directly...she might do something real rash, that would end with me dancing on her grave. But what, I ask you?"  
  
"You telling her that you faked your entire performance?" Cordelia said, trying not to be scared, knowing that Angelus got off on that.  
  
Smiling, the dark-haired vamp continued, "You know Buffy's baby sister Dawn, right? Now THAT would have been fun, until that boyfriend of yours showed up."  
  
"Killing innocent people, I can understand as well as despise – but what you tried to do to Dawn? How could you?! She's only twelve years old!"  
  
Angelus had smirked, "How could I not, Cordy? You should have seen what Darla and me did at this orphanage, in Paris during 1793. Besides, get with the times, everybody's doing it! I was just giving her a head start, and I also happen to know how much the Summers girls like it. But then again, maybe your idiot lameass Xander did me a favor. See, Dawn needs to do a little more growing up. Bigger boobs, larger ass, ten times more terrified...it works out real well."  
  
She trembled; Cordelia had always known that Angelus was bad, but she'd never expected him to be like this.  
  
"Scared, little girl? No big bad Xander Harris to hide behind anymore? Now, I could ask you what you've been up to, but I can smell it from here. Guess no one will ever grab you for the virgin sacrifice thing anymore, will they? So – was he any good, Cordy? I mean, after all, he's supposedly your one true love. But hey, you know, love – it's so overrated. Look at me; I had a SLAYER touch me...and that's just wrong!"  
  
He leaned into her face. "Anyway, I wouldn't worry Cor. See, I'm going to turn you."   
  
Angelus smiled in true pleasure, when her eyes went wide in terror. "That's right. You'll be part of my little family forever. Won't THAT just tick off the old boyfriend? He'll have lost two of the women he cares about to me. First Buffy...and now you. Won't that be fun? The message it gives to Xander pretty much screams "mind your own business", and is so gonna be worth it. Then again, so is the idea of you killing him yourself...then maybe, have your way with his corpse a bit. Buffy liked banging a corpse, so maybe you will too..."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Los Angeles, California. July, 1999  
  
Tears in her eyes, Cordelia broke the hug after a few minutes. She couldn't describe the pure joy she'd gotten, just from the embrace.  
  
Her vampire senses could smell everything about him. Xander's pulse was racing, as he had clung to her. She could tell he had switched deodorants, he now used the 'pine forest' scent rather than the 'sports' scent he had worn when last she knew him. Cordelia also noticed, with a little happy noise in her head, that he got a little turned on as he embraced her.  
  
Her joy faded a tiny bit, as she saw him looking at her. She couldn't meet his gaze, since she was no longer the plain old Cordelia Chase he had fallen in love with. Not for the first time, her mind whispered, 'You're a monster, he thinks you're a monster...'  
  
"You've changed a bit," was all he said.  
  
She nodded, still looking down.   
  
"It couldn't have been easy for you...coming back without me there," Xander continued softly. "I can't imagine Buffy and Will were overly happy to see you...."   
  
"No, they sure weren't..." Cordelia whispered, remembering the night she was given her soul back.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Sunnydale, California. June, 1998  
  
The sudden sound of the library doors opening, and the sight of Cordelia entering, startled all the Scooby gang – especially when they saw one of the woman's hands holding Amy Madison by the neck. Seeing his girlfriend in peril, Percy West grabbed a crossbow and pointed it at the soulless demon, who just smiled.  
  
"Go ahead and shoot, Percy. I promise I won't move, but I can't guarantee however that Amy won't," she said, still smirking.  
  
Percy lowered his crossbow, as did Buffy. "So, this is how you repay your debts Cordelia?" Percy asked, with a touch of venom.  
  
"Huh – you wanna know something funny, Percy? You're absolutely right. I DO happen to owe your amateur Sabrina here, for that little love spell. After all, that was what got me and Xander back together way back when! Besides, I have an idea for a much better hostage," Cordelia said, pushing Amy forward, crashing onto the floor with Percy as she turned around and grabbed Oz.  
  
"Think I couldn't smell you there, Fido?" she said, snapping every one of the fingers of his right hand, one by one. "Now, tell me where Xander is before I introduce Oz to some real pain!"  
  
Hearing her boyfriend's pained moans, Willow shot out with the first thing that came to mind. "Why do you want to find him anyway, Cordy? It's not like he loved you. I mean Xander killed Angel, just so he could finally get in Buffy's pants..." Willow said, trying to anger her former best friend's former girlfriend – so that she would do something rash and make a mistake.  
  
Cordelia just smirked. "So he wanted Buffy, huh? Then why was he screaming my name some months ago, when we were alone together in that hotel room? Or did no one ever tell you about that!?"  
  
"No...he, he'd never have..." Willow stammered, looking pale.  
  
"What? You thought we never slept together? Come on, Willow, what were you expecting – that he would have waited for a loser like you? Ha! Did you really think that he would EVER see you like that? Wake up, dummy, he doesn't like mousy little girls. Xander likes strong women! That's why we got together – I mean, I definitely qualify for that requirement! And you know what, Wills? Just between us girls, he was good. Hell no, he was absolutely incredible in the sack..."  
  
The soulless vampire put on her game face and sneered in the face of Willow's tears, "He could do things with his tongue, that had me constantly begging for him never to stop! I wanted to put a collar and leash on him or something, and keep him down there for a very long time...you know, I might actually do that, once I find out where he's hiding..."  
  
Willow was shaking her head. 'This isn't happening!!' she kept screaming in her head.  
  
"And you know what else, Willow? After the first fifteen minutes and first three earth-shattering times...we really got started in the moaning department. So how's it feel, knowing he was making me scream so loud that the windows rattled – while you were paper-training Wolf Boy here? Now that I think about it, with Xander the collar would be for fun... but with Oz, you might want to get a good flea collar. Trust me here, he will need one," Cordelia said, smirking.  
  
'She's lying,' Willow told herself. But another part of her mind said, 'What if she isn't?' Willow was so confused. She had loved Xander, but she also cared about Oz. She sank to her knees, staring into open space as Cordelia began to laugh, raising her head as she closed her eyes, momentarily distracted.  
  
Taking advantage of the situation, Buffy fired her crossbow, the wooden bolt flying towards her heart.  
  
Without looking, the vampiress yanked Oz in front of the bolt, where the projectile embedded itself in his left shoulder, making the lycanthrope groan in pain.  
  
"Was that really necessary?" she heard Giles say, strangely calm.  
  
Cordelia shrugged, her face morphing back to human. "No, but heck – it was fun! I mean, just because she had some stupid kindergarten wet dreams about him, that doesn't make Xander her personal property. He was MY man, no matter what some skanks might say. Right, Buffy?"  
  
The blonde Slayer glared daggers at her nemesis. "Still can't handle it, can you Cordy? That he thought he could get me? That your so-called fun with him was just killing time, till he carried out his sick little plan to kill Angel?"  
  
The undead girl looked amazed. "Oh my God – what dream world are you living in, Slayer? Yeah, sure, he had that idiotic sophomore crush on you. But after he asked you out and you turned him down, and then months later almost fucked him on the dance floor of the Bronze just to make Angel jealous...he dropped you! And you wanna know how I know that? Because he told me, during one of our little closet sessions! And trust me on this, Buffy...with what we were doing, his mind couldn't have had the energy to lie to me..."  
  
The vampiress chuckled, "Besides – I heard from Willy that Xander saw you going at it hot and heavy with your boyfriend, the second he got his soul back. You didn't even care about that portal, and if the world was gonna go to Hell. All you wanted was to get fucked by him again! Guess it pissed Xander off; after all that crap about your guilt for screwing Angel, there you were – going at it like bunnies once more..."  
  
"I was just glad to have him back!" Buffy shot back, enraged. "There was never any danger, I...I could have handled it! And all those times Xander told me to kill Angelus because we wouldn't get Angel back...he was planning to get rid of Angel, the entire time!"  
  
"Jesus, but you have a one-track mind! Well, playtime's over. And Dog Boy here has outlived his – AAAGGHH!!"  
  
Cordelia collapsed onto the floor, writhing in pain. Reloading her crossbow, Buffy was about to shoot Cordelia when Giles lowered her aimed weapon, muttering, "My God, she actually did it..." while shaking his head.  
  
Buffy looked around, confused. "What's going on?" she demanded.   
  
"Jenny's restoring her soul," Giles said, his face like stone.  
  
"Bullshit! She's dust," the Slayer announced grimly, taking aim with her crossbow but Giles stepped in front of it.  
  
"Buffy, no. Don't," he said. And it was an order, not a request.  
  
Raising herself from the floor onto her knees, the newly ensouled vampiress said, "What.... what's going on? Last thing I remember, Angel was grabbing me..." Vamp Cordy looked at her surroundings, and realized that she was in the library.  
  
"Xander?" she called out weakly. "Xander... sweetheart, where are ya? Are you there?" she asked, suddenly frightened and sounding like a lost little girl.  
  
She looked behind herself and saw the Scooby Gang all staring at her, except for Willow who seemed catatonic; then she noticed that Buffy was aiming her crossbow at her, even as the undead creature realized why.  
  
Getting up onto her feet, Cordelia looked at her former friends. Then she turned around and ran out of the library, towards the hotel where she had last been with Xander.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Los Angeles, California. July, 1999  
  
"So where have you been, baby?" Cordelia asked, wondering where he had been the past year. However, Xander didn't have the chance to answer her, as the door was slammed open – startling all four occupants in the room.   
  
"Hey Cordelia, you won't believe it when I tell you – but I swear, there is this old run-down hotel for sale at a pretty good price! Well, I was thinking that maybe we should buy it, because you and I both know that this tiny office isn't going to cut it much longer," a blonde girl said. "And thinking on it even more, we'll – oh, hi Xander... XANDER!?" the blonde shrieked.  
  
Reaching into her purse, the blonde pulled out a crucifix and held it in front of the young man while shouting, "Back, demon! Back to the hell pits or wherever it is you came from!"  
  
Having no idea what was going, Xander looked at Wesley. He, also having no idea what was going on, just gave the boy a look that said 'you're on your own'. More confusion was added when the blonde girl looked at him, then at Cordelia and said, "Uh, I think this cross is broken, or what?"  
  
Cordelia began to laugh for the first time in ages, which didn't help matters as Doyle and Wesley began to laugh as well.  
  
"Will somebody please tell me what's going on?" the blonde girl demanded, looking at Xander.   
  
"Don't ask me, Harmony. Heck, I just got here," Xander said, and then he looked at her and asked, "Hey, did you get a new hairstyle since I saw you last?" when he heard someone grunt in pain.  
  
Looking behind himself, the teenager saw the guy Cordy had called Doyle clutch his head as he collapsed. Harmony rushed towards him, as Cordelia handed him a notepad and pen.   
  
"What did you see?" Cordelia asked him.   
  
"A girl. Blonde, at this place," Doyle retorted, as he wrote down the info.   
  
Cordelia immediately headed towards the door, with Doyle when she heard Xander say, "So where we going?"  
  
"You and Giles Junior are going nowhere," the vampiress snapped.  
  
"Hey, you'll need my help," Xander said indignantly.  
  
"No way, Xander. I'm not taking the risk of losing you again, just now after I got you back. You stay, or I swear I'll kick your ass. And I mean it!"  
  
"What do you want me to do, Cordy?" Harmony asked.   
  
"See what else you can find out about that hotel. You were so totally right about space," the undead woman said as she closed the door behind her, leaving a disappointed Xander.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Sunnydale High School Library  
  
Walking into the library, Alyssa was aware of all the stares that the Scooby Gang were giving her. "What!?" she asked.  
  
"Wesley sent another postcard," Willow said, glaring at her cousin.   
  
"So what? You think I told him to do that on purpose? Because I didn't! Does Buffy know?" the younger Slayer demanded.  
  
"Not yet. You know, I think that you're going to end up Watcherless, Lys. He's really pushing her buttons," her cousin shrugged.  
  
"Well, hey, I wasn't the one who sent him on that bogus mission," Alyssa shrugged back.   
  
Before Willow could say anything, Dawn entered the library calling out, "Did Wesley send another postcard?"   
  
"As a matter of fact he did," Percy said, trying not to smile. "But it's more like a portfolio..." he finished, holding up a manila envelope.   
  
"Cool. I wonder what adventure he's having this time," Dawn muttered, thinking back to the previous postcards and her sister's reaction to them, which was not pretty.  
  
The young girl went to Giles' office and turned the knob, entering it. On his desk were a few postcards, which she picked up and began to read again because they were funny, especially when her sister first heard them.   
  
Dawn flipped over the first one, that had a picture of Six Flags Magic Mountain, and read:  
  
"Dear Buffy,   
  
You were right about this cursed place, it seems to have some type of roller coaster demons known as Batman and Viper. They sound very evil, and I've seen several people scared of them. I will try my best to slay them...even if it takes all night... or until my day pass runs out.  
  
-Wesley"  
  
She put it down and read the second one, which had a picture of the Hollywood hill letters.   
  
"Dear Buffy,   
  
This is getting more dangerous as I continue. I have been given tickets to something called 'Wheel of Fortune', it seems to be a dark twisted game run by a demon called a 'Pat Sajack'. He seems to delight in forcing normal humans to solve complex puzzles to win their souls back...or a new speedboat. Either way, this is very dangerous. They told me in my Watcher studies that I would be scarred sometimes, but I never thought it would be like this. Please pray for me.  
  
-Wesley"  
  
Putting that one down Dawn looked over at the last card that had been sent, before this one. It had a picture of Sleeping Beauty's Castle.   
  
"Dear Buffy,   
  
I have discovered a strange place where giant demons that resemble mice, ducks, and chipmunks force people to pay 40 dollars each to be able to walk in the 'Magic Kingdom'. I have gone undercover to try to stop it. I must meet with my contact in the kingdom, who only goes by the name Darth Vader and works as a ticket seller at a place called Star Tours.  
  
-Wesley"  
  
Buffy had not been amused with Wesley's postcards, or that he was making her look like a fool. Alyssa's comment that 'he isn't as dumb as you might think' came to mind, but then again the Brit was deliberately pissing off her sister.  
  
Putting the cards back down, Dawn exited the office, still giggling.   
  
"Reading the postcards again, huh Dawn?" she heard her best friend say.   
  
"Guilty as charged, Chloe. What's going on?"   
  
"Wondering if you wanted to watch the new Star Wars movie, when your sister says she doesn't need your help tonight."  
  
"All right, but since when did you like sci-fi?" Dawn asked.   
  
"Ever since my sister dated a sci-fi geek, I guess."   
  
"Okay. But first, I want to hear the new postcard."   
  
"That Watcher isn't going to live very long, is he?"   
  
"I don't think so, but it'll so be worth it," the sister of the Slayer giggled again.   
  
Dawn may have loved her sister, but she hated her bossy (and bitchy) attitude. Still, neither had to wait long as Buffy finally entered the library, carrying a medallion or something in her hand. She put it on the table and mentioned to Giles about fighting some kind of snake-like men last night.   
  
When she finished, Percy gave her the manila envelope while trying not to laugh, and Chloe and Dawn's eyes sparkled with amusement. Sighing, Buffy opened the manila envelope and noticed that there were pictures inside.   
  
Reaching inside, she pulled one out and noticed that she had grabbed the postcard instead. It showed a picture of a Los Angeles beach. Flipping it around, the girl began to read it out loud:  
  
"Dear Buffy,   
  
I ran across this pack of succubi, and found the chance to observe their behavior up close and personal. They've invited me to judge a ritual of theirs; it's called a Wet T-shirt contest. It sounds very dangerous, but I'll do my best to make you proud of me.  
  
-Wesley"  
  
As she put the postcard down, the blonde heard Percy mutter out loud, WOW!" She turned her head just in time to see Amy smack him in the arm, as Percy put down the first of the photos that were enclosed.   
  
They all showed Wesley with his arms around a group of girls in almost non-existent bikinis, in various poses.   
  
Dawn's eyes were wide open, at seeing the revealing swimsuits. The only thought in her mind was, 'If those "succubi" didn't kill him, Buffy will!'  
  
Chloe was thinking, 'Holy shit!!! Even my sister never wore something like that, when she and Xander went to the beach…'  
  
Willow's face was red, and she was trying not to look at Oz. Oz's face was, of course, as unreadable as ever.  
  
Giles' head was filled with images of his wife in each one of the suits, but he quickly dispelled them from his mind. Jenny would kill him, if she found out about the fantasies that 'Ripper' enjoyed.  
  
"Hotlips…"   
  
"Don't Hotlips me, Percy. The answer is still no!" Amy shouted. She knew he was going to ask if she'd wear something like that.  
  
Buffy just walked away from the table, and headed into the stacks. "I guess she took that better than expected," Chloe said.   
  
But no sooner had she had said that… when a loud, angry yell came from where Buffy had gone into. Willow immediately turned to her cousin and gave her the meanest glare she could, but stopped when she saw that Alyssa was not laughing.   
  
She looked real mad, and if there was one thing that would never change about her fellow redhead it was that Lys could get extremely violent when she was pissed off. It looked like Wesley would be in hospitalized for a week. But then again she was a Slayer, so he was probably looking at two weeks.   
  
However Alyssa Friedman was not thinking about Wesley, but one Alexander Harris. If Wesley had been there with the 'succubi', then there was no doubt that Alex had too.   
  
Slamming her fists on the table, Lys tried not to vent. She needed to go outside and hurt something, hurt it real bad. So Alyssa got up from her seat and made her way to library doors, muttering out loud in a poisonous voice, "HE DIES…" 


	27. Crashers and Cutters

While Xander was looking at the door that Cordelia and Doyle had just gone through with a look of annoyance, Harmony was giving him the old once-over: and she definitely liked what she saw.  
  
The former ditz now knew why her best friend had been willing to give up everything for this guy. Tall, good-looking, strong, well-built...yep, Harmony hated Cordelia, now that she thought about it.  
  
"For someone that supposedly cares about you very much, she, ah, really didn't seem that bothered about walking away during this tender and romantic moment," Harmony heard the English guy that had come with Xander say.  
  
"You know what? You're absolutely right, Wes. We gotta do something about that attitude."  
  
"Yes we do, Alex. We have to do something."  
  
"You know what we gotta do, Wes?"  
  
"Sizzler's?"  
  
"Denny's?"  
  
"Arby's?"  
  
"Jack In The Box?"  
  
"Olive Garden!!" both of them said simultaneously.  
  
"Excellent idea, Alex," Wesley said, as he walked towards the door.  
  
"Hey, I can't take all the credit Wes," Xander responded, as he walked towards the door as well. "It was partly your idea..."  
  
"Hey, you can't just leave!!! Cordy will be back soon, and..." Harmony protested.  
  
"You know, you're right Harm! Cordy wouldn't like it if we don't take care of you. No telling when she'll come back - and I doubt she'll like it if we leave you here to starve," Xander smiled.  
  
"But...but-" Harmony said in vain.  
  
"Come on Harm, pasta for everyone. Wes can put it on the Council's tab, or something."  
  
Giving in, Harmony said, "She's going to kill you once she's done with me, you know that - right?"  
  
"Ms. Kendall, they do have breadsticks at the establishment. Besides, I'm sure we'll be back before Ms. Chase returns," Wesley said opening the door, then closing it just as suddenly.  
  
"What's wrong?" Harmony inquired.  
  
"I'm terribly sorry, but it seems that I have to baptize your bathroom."  
  
"Huh?" Harmony responded.  
  
"I need to use your toilet," Wesley said slowly.  
  
"Oh, geez, then why didn't you just say so? Back there, down the hall, third door down."  
  
"Thank you very much," the Englishman said, heading towards the bathroom.  
  
"So, Harmony. How did things go at school, after I transferred?" Xander asked the blonde, hoping to strike up a conversation.  
  
"Oh, horrible. Senior year was the worst experience ever!" Harmony stated with a shiver. "I mean, all those seniors that I thought would be date-worthy, that would finally make my life worth living? Ha! After Larry came out of the closet, it was as if an epidemic had..."  
  
"I meant Hellmouth-wise," Xander said quickly, rolling his eyes. "Specifically, Cordy and the Scooby Gang."  
  
"Oh, that," the former cheerleader responded. "Well, there isn't much to tell, except that Cordy pretty much laid low after you staked Buffy's vamp boyfriend. Just fed enough so that her "meals" wouldn't die, and attract attention - ya know? Then she started stalking Buffy and her friends, once she couldn't find and kill you for temporarily disfiguring her face."  
  
Xander was shocked. "She what?"  
  
"Yeah. Hard to believe, I know, but she went all Stalker Girl when she couldn't find you! She even went so far as go to your house, and try to get invited in..."  
  
"Did she succeed?" Xander said with concern.  
  
"Heck, no. Your mom just told her that she had no idea where you were. Hey, where did you go anyway?"  
  
"Chicago."  
  
Harmony was puzzled. "Chicago? Why Chicago?"  
  
"Got family there. Go on with the story, we don't wanna get side-tracked here."  
  
"Oops, right. Anyway, when she couldn't find ya, I swear Cordelia became absolutely fixated on you! Changed her mind from torturing and killing you - to torturing, killing and turning you into a vampire. Wanted to make you into her undead consort, or something! Gave Buffy a lot of headaches, before Mrs. Giles...oh, she was Ms. Calendar at the time, but you know what I mean...gave Cordy her soul back."  
  
The young man was having a hard time swallowing this. "Are you shitting me?"  
  
"No, Xander, I mean how else do you explain that she didn't kill you just now?" Harmony remarked snidely.  
  
"Not that! I meant G-man, actually getting married to a babe like Ms. Calendar. What other earth-shattering things happened?" he asked, shaking his head.  
  
"Well, the Mayor turned out to be this demon worshipper who tried to reach Ascension, whatever that really is."  
  
"Ascension?" 'That's a new one,' the young man thought in confusion.  
  
"Giles found out at Graduation what it was. Apparently, the Mayor would have become this pure demon, like something literally out of Hell, and..."  
  
"Wait a minute. Hold on. You mean to tell me that Mayor Richard 'I'm working for your future' Wilkins, was the Big Bad for the year?"  
  
Harmony simply nodded at him.  
  
"He just didn't seem the type," Xander said, shaking his head. "So how'd you guys beat him?"  
  
"We didn't," Harmony said with a shrug.  
  
"Then he's still out there somewhere-?"  
  
"Oh, no. See, Mayor Wilkins had made some major enemies, and back in February this fat-ass demon called Balthazar killed him. Buffy later killed the big slug, but it wasn't until later that we found out that he was a demon. And you don't even want to know what Snyder tried to do, after the Mayor was dead."  
  
"Did he erect a statue to himself?"  
  
"How'd you know? Uh, I mean, in addition to that…"  
  
"I'm done, let's eat," both teens heard Wesley, as he walked towards them.  
  
"About time, Wes. I was thinking you couldn't find it," Xander said.  
  
"On the contrary, it wasn't hard to find."  
  
"I'm proud of you, pal. Let's go," Xander said, holding the door open for Harmony as she walked through. Quickly, he turned back to look at Wesley who held up a notepad with writing scribbled on it, smiling.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
As Alyssa threw the doors open to exit the library and go into the hall, she looked at her watch. It was 3:40 in the afternoon, and the sun wasn't due to go down for another two and a quarter hours.   
  
'I really need to do something about my temper,' she mentally admonished herself. The redheaded Slayer really wanted to kill something - and here she was, on the mouth of Hell no less, and with nothing in sight.   
  
Looking at the library doors, Alyssa wondered if she should go back in or just leave - when suddenly she heard a low wolf-whistle in front of her.   
  
The redhead turned around, and saw several athlete-types coming from the direction of the boys' locker room. 'Just what I needed,' she mentally groaned. 'Some dummies with their hormones on overdrive...'   
  
Alyssa decided to leave the school and walked towards the newcomers, moving to the side to give the jocks enough space - when she saw one of them try to grab her ass.   
  
Instinctively, the young Slayer just grabbed the asshole and flipped him onto his back, where he began to clutch at his wrist and howl in pain. Smiling, Alyssa continued walking towards the exit as the grabber's friends quickly gave her a wide berth.   
  
She knew what to do now, and all Alyssa needed were some of Alex's color-clashing clothes...   
  
~*~*~*  
  
After a few moments of silence, Buffy came out of the stacks with a look in her eyes that sent an eerie calm throughout the library. "Where is she?" the blonde demanded, when she didn't see the other Slayer.   
  
"She went out to find something to hurt," her little sister answered with a shrug.   
  
"What do you mean, she went out? I didn't give her tonight's assignment orders yet," Buffy said with a frown.   
  
"Well, she's gone anyway, Buffy," Willow shrugged as well.   
  
"I swear Willow, I know she's family and all, but she's starting to replace Cordy as the Bitch Queen of Sunnydale around here!" Buffy ranted. "I mean, she doesn't follow orders - and seeing that this is the Hellmouth, she's not gonna live very long with that kinda attitude!"   
  
"Isn't that sorta what Giles said about you, when we first arrived here way back when?" Dawn said, smiling.   
  
"Dawn, what are you doing here? Go home - this really isn't something you should be concerned with," Buffy told her sister.   
  
"But, Buffy! I just want to help you," Dawn pleaded.   
  
"And if you need help, let me know," Chloe said.   
  
"I know, I know. But if you two really want to help me out, just don't get in the way here. I've got enough problems to worry about, without Mom yelling at me because something happened to you," Buffy sighed towards her younger sibling.   
  
After that last exchange, Dawn decided not to pursue the subject anymore. She hated it when her sister got like this, even if she meant well...  
  
But the thing that really made Dawn mad was that Buffy was trying to shoulder all the responsibility, rather than be thankful that others were willing to help her.   
  
After all, Big Sis wouldn't have even been able to get readmitted into high school for senior year, without the help of Mr. and Mrs. Giles. And, Jenny's threats to turn Snyder into a troll? Definitely would have been an improvement for the guy's looks...   
  
And then there was the business later with the dead cat, and the zombies. But that hadn't really been her fault - how could anyone have known the problems their mom's Nigerian mask would cause?  
  
Dawn had hoped last year that through Scott Hope, Buffy would be able to have a social life with someone normal. A nice, daylight-loving, safe high school kid, who would take her out on dates - or Homecoming, or even to the Prom.   
  
In other words, someone who didn't drink blood or would try to rape her sister if he lost his soul.   
  
But, again, it didn't work out as they'd broken up after the incident with Pete the Jekyll-and-Hyde monster, and Scott had told most of the student body that Buffy was gay.   
  
On the bright side, her big sister had been able to save the town's babies from that damned demon Lurconis with Cordy's help, the night their mom and the Giles's had freaked out and behaved like teenagers along with the rest of Sunnydale's adult population. But, and Dawn knew this was the down side; Snyder had tried to hit on their mom right in front of her. So she'd just HAD to go into denial or repress or whatever, if the brunette didn't want 1630 Revello Drive to become a vomitorium.  
  
Christmas had been a major drag too, with the First Evil showing up and trying to get Cordelia to commit suicide.  
  
The dream the vampiress had had of she and Xander making love again before she'd bitten and turned him, had been enough to make Dawn sick; and the subsequent vision of Drusilla biting and turning the guy had made everyone believe Xander was dead now. Plus she and Chloe had had to stop Cordelia from walking into the sunlight, on Christmas Day...   
  
Buffy had passed the Cruciamentum, at least; but then again Mr. Giles had gotten fired from the Council. And it had been touch and go whether or not that Quentin Travers guy would have had the librarian assassinated for not leaving Buffy, as ordered - but Jenny had promised him that if anything should happen to her husband, Travers would not live to see the end of the week.  
  
Vengeance - it's a big thing with gypsies, and the Watcher had been smart enough to know it.   
  
And there was no point even thinking about Mr. Giles' replacement, that Gwendolyn Post bitch that had eventually tried to kill everyone when Oz finally found the Glove of Myhnegon - and had come within seconds of turning Chloe and herself, into a smoky hole in the ground. Buffy had been so mad about that...   
  
She'd done real well on her SAT tests, too, even if an intoxicated Spike had ruined the mood when he'd returned to Sunnydale looking for a love potion for his psycho girlfriend.  
  
Amy had performed it under duress and Spike had gone ballistic when nothing happened afterwards, because according to the spell description the Bleached Wonder should have been able to "feel" his way to Drusilla if she still cared for him - however, he'd felt nothing. This had led Spike to believe that either Amy had messed up, or Drusilla now hated him - and to his mind the latter was more likely, ever since she'd become obsessed with Xander.  
  
At least no one had gotten really hurt, except for Spike - and lucky for him Buffy hadn't been able to find it within herself to stake a vampire that was on its knees, filled with anguish and crying over its lost soulmate. Obviously, he'd really loved that nutcase...   
  
And, too, Big Sis had almost become Homecoming Queen - but the Hellmouth  
  
had had other ideas, resulting in Harmony of all people winning the title.  
  
Dawn knew of course that the thing that was really eating at her sibling was the fact that she'd been unable to save Jonathan Levinson. But looking on the bright side, Jonathan's death from that mulligan stew had uncovered the lunch lady's plot to exterminate the entire student population with rat poison, all because he'd wanted to grab a last meal before he killed himself.  
  
It was completely ironic that that the guy had been murdered, instead of dying by his own hand as he'd planned; Dawn just figured that somebody up there had decided to make his death meaningful, instead of the pointless sacrifice it otherwise would have been.   
  
But the one thing she would never forget was the night when Buffy and Cordelia had gotten into the worst fight they'd ever had, actually coming to physical blows with one another after Cordelia had saved everyone at the prom from Tucker Wells' hellhounds - while Buffy was at home.   
  
The reasons why all boiled down to the fact that Buffy and Cordelia had never gotten along, and would never get along, due to Xander.   
  
Even with her soul restored, Buffy didn't trust Cordelia and had sworn that if the damned bloodsucker even looked at her the wrong way, she'd get staked in a heartbeat. Cordelia in turn had responded that the blonde bitch needed to get over herself; all the vampiress was trying to do was help, which she did whether the Slayer liked it or not.   
  
Well, granted Cordelia hadn't liked it when Buffy had then implied that her boyfriend had never really cared about her in the first place. Plus if he'd been a real man, Xander would've stayed in Sunnydale to be turned by Cordelia - so that Buffy could do to him, what he'd done to Angel. That confrontation had been very violent, and both women were lucky to have survived it.  
  
But the sister of the Slayer believed that the worst thing that had happened since her old crush had vanished was when she and her mom had gone to Buffy's graduation, back in May. Midway through the ceremony, the Sisterhood of Jhe had returned to finish what they had tried to start earlier in the year.  
  
The first time, they had tried to open the Hellmouth and would have succeeded if Cordelia hadn't arrived at the last moment. With the undead girl's unexpected help, the Sisterhood had beaten away that night, but not defeated; and the souled vampire had also saved her life and that of her sister Chloe from a gang of zombies, that had been looking for some "fun".  
  
Determined to open the Hellmouth, the Sisterhood had arrived during Graduation with their new leader; a demon with the upper body of a beautiful six-armed woman, and the body of a snake below the waist. Predictably, the totally unprepared students and parents had instantly run for it; but both she and her mom had watched, paralyzed, as Buffy fought the demoness.  
  
Even with Amy and Willow's potent magicks as an assist, the Slayer hadn't stood a chance as she'd found herself unable to harm the monster – while the witches were doing everything they could so as not to be overwhelmed, when the fat lady started singing. In the end though, the snake lady had managed to wrap its coils around the Slayer, and begun to crush the life out of her - when Cordelia had entered the fray, during the eclipse.  
  
The former May Queen's timely arrival had distracted the demoness enough so that Buffy could free herself, and both 18-year-old girls had fought against it. Regrettably, both supernatural women had been unable to harm the creature - but that was when Jenny had finally found a spell that would affect the demoness.   
  
No one, not even her husband knew what sort of mojo the computer teacher had cast upon the snaky woman; all they knew was that when the demoness finally slithered away, she'd seemed to be very confused...  
  
'Yup, Big Sis does a real good job handling everything by herself,' Dawn thought sarcastically, as she saw Buffy glaring at her impatiently. "Okay, okay. We're leaving," the youngest Summers woman said with a theatrical sigh, as she and her friend decided to head for the new Star Wars movie.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Xander and Harmony waited by the entrance to Cordelia's office building in Los Angeles, while Wesley went for the car. Leaning against the building and shaking his head, the Zeppo that had never actually been called that said suddenly, "Damn it, I should have been there!"  
  
"Been where?" Harmony asked in puzzlement.  
  
"Sunnydale," the young man told her, with a look of guilt on his face. "Cordy needed someone who gave a damn to be there for her, when she got her soul back," Xander finished up, then saw his blonde companion looking at him with hurt in her eyes.  
  
He wanted to slap himself upside the head. "Sorry, Harm. It's just that up until about 30 minutes ago, I didn't think you would have given a crap about her anymore..."  
  
Sighing, Harmony then said, "Don't worry about it. 'Cause the last time I saw you, after I heard about Cordy's death? We didn't exactly part on the best of terms! And if I recall correctly, I actually said the reason she died was on account of she started hanging around with you and the rest of the losers?"  
  
As she mentioned that, the former cheerleader looked ashamed. "Sorry about that..."  
  
"Don't be, it's the truth. If she'd never gotten together with me and then the rest of the Scooby gang, then odds are Angelus wouldn't have ever gone after her to get to Buffy. Oh, hell, Harmony - she didn't deserve any of this. It's all my fault! She would have been that much better off, if we'd never kissed that day in Buffy's basement," the boy sighed, before he hung his head.  
  
Harmony looked at him in shock before she yelled out, "Are you really that stupid, or what!?"   
  
Xander looked up sharply, as Harmony began to rant. "You really think she wanted to be just another member of the Bimbo Squad? And don't think we didn't know, that that's what a lot of the seniors called us behind our backs! Yeah, sure, Xander; if she hadn't been a member of your little club, then maybe Angelus wouldn't have gone after her that night. But what would have happened, all the other times you saved her ass?"  
  
As she continued speaking, her one-time nemesis started getting even more surprised. "Xander, in those few months that you were with her – she actually felt alive. I heard how her parents told you how depressed she was, before she started dating you; and I'm ashamed now to admit that I had no clue about it, myself. Look, Harris, bottom line - I know for a fact that she wouldn't trade her time with you for anything, even if it meant she could turn into a human being again."  
  
Xander was at a complete loss for words, at hearing the person who'd tried her hardest to break Cordy and him up now defending their relationship to him. "But she's lost so much, Harmony. Like, having a normal life! Plus marriage, kids, the whole nine yards...okay, granted, we were way too young to consider getting engaged, but I'm sure both of us thought about it once or twice. And now, it's impossible..."  
  
"I know, Xander," Harmony added softly. "But that's all in the past, already. And for the record, she did have people there for her. Her sister, Mr. and Mrs. Giles, Dawn, and even me! Well, I did need some time for the whole vampire thing to set in; but you wanna know the truth? Out of all of us, the only thing she really missed...was you."  
  
Before he could respond, Wesley drove up in his Jetta. Opening the back door Xander climbed in, letting Harmony have the front passenger seat. As they got in Xander asked Wesley, "Did you find the address?"  
  
"No problem," the Watcher replied. "Just sit back, and enjoy the scenery."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Thank you very much, Ariel," Alyssa said to the mother-to-be, as she exited Xander's former room carrying a box of his old, color-clashing clothes.   
  
"Think nothing of it, Slayer; and don't worry about trying to explain what happened to them. I've especially been wanting to get rid of those, ever since Alex left," she said, smiling at the Chosen One as they both walked towards the living room.  
  
The redhead looked at the blonde, who merely nodded; and it was then that Alyssa heard a voice say, 'My mother isn't the only one who can use telepathy, Slayer,' in her head. 'Just make sure you give them to someone that'll really need them.'  
  
Before the Chicago native could respond, she was interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by loud squeal of "HE'S HERE!!" coming from behind them.  
  
Both women turned around, and stared towards the source of the noise. They were quick enough see the brunette woman that had closed the door in the redhead's face earlier run out of what the Slayer assumed to be the guest room towards the front door; where she excitedly opened it up, and then started yelling.  
  
"ROBERT!!! Why'd you knock on the door? You live here, so you don't really need to! So what if I told you to knock on the door yesterday? OH, you are SO lucky that my sister would kill me if I did anything to you..."  
  
The redhead looked at the blonde, "She's still waiting for that someone?" the girl asked the pregnant woman.  
  
"Yeah, and he's not supposed to show up for another 10 minutes."   
  
It was then that a very tall and handsome man wearing glasses entered the living room while saying, "Man, your sister is a psycho! She tells me to do one thing, then gets mad at me for doing that instead of not doing what I wasn't supposed to do?!"  
  
Both the Slayer and Ariel Harris rolled their eyes. "Men..." they chorused in unison.  
  
However, once he saw the blonde woman, Robert calmed down as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him for a chaste, yet passionate kiss. And it wasn't long before the hyperactive woman came into the living room; and upon seeing the couple lip-locked she screeched out loud, "Say, what are you doing home so early?"  
  
Reluctantly pulling away, Robert Harris said, "I decided to close the Magic Shop down a little early so the two of us could go out for dinner, like I promised her."  
  
Frowning, the brunette woman ranted, "Listen buster, you got my little sister into this mess - so you need to start raising money to support that baby you have coming! And...didn't I tell you to go away?" she finished up, frowning at Alyssa.  
  
"It's okay, Lory. She's a close friend of Alex," the brunette's sister said.  
  
"But she's a redhead," Xander's aunt said. A few seconds later, she said, "Oh, well, if you say so Ariel," before she turned around and returned to her room. And then Alyssa heard the woman say in her head, 'You better not hurt my nephew, Slayer,' in an unconvincing but concerned voice.  
  
"Must be that time of the month," Alyssa and Ariel heard Robert Harris mutter, right before the blonde woman smacked her husband on the arm. Xander's mom then said, "Well, her behavior is mostly your fault! So you have no one to blame, but yourself."  
  
"My fault? What do you mean, it's my fault?" he asked.  
  
"You know very well what I mean by that, Robert. That no-good brother of yours, for starters."  
  
"Hey, I told Rory to stay away from her, and that she's not one of those sluts that he's used to! But then again, I'm not the one that's obsessed with the idea of trying to sleep with a lawyer, especially the deputy DA. Didn't you warn your sister what kind of a guy Rory Harris is?"  
  
"Yes, I did, but that was before she caved in to your brother's repeated attempts at getting her to go out on a date - as well as them finally kissing last night."  
  
"Oh? So they kissed, big deal..."  
  
"Oh, it is a big deal Robert!" the blonde argued. "That was my sister's first ever kiss, and now she's starting to think that your brother isn't all that bad!"  
  
"I don't believe this. I just simply cannot believe this. Your sister is going to be forty years old in a few more years, and she's behaving like a lovesick schoolgirl because my brother was her first kiss?"  
  
Throughout the argument, Alyssa just thought to herself, 'This family just gets weirder and weirder,' when she suddenly saw a cruel smile appear on Ariel's face and she heard Alex's dad Robert slightly gulp as he mumbled, "Sweetheart, that's not fair..."  
  
"What do you mean, 'that's not fair'? I'm half-demon, honey, what did you expect?"  
  
The redheaded Slayer immediately knew something had been said in the man's head, and from the look on his face she didn't want to find out what.   
  
"I wouldn't worry, Slayer," the blonde said, turning towards the Slayer. "I would never hurt him. Of course, that doesn't mean he's going to escape his punishment later tonight," Ariel then said with a seductive smile.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"This isn't where the Olive Garden is," Harmony said, as she looked around a fairly empty street. "This is a business district."  
  
"Are you sure?" Wesley asked, as he consulted a map. Pointing to a street sign he asked her, "Isn't that 37th Avenue right there?"  
  
As soon as the blonde girl turned her head to look, Wesley struck. In a flash he had grabbed her hand, and handcuffed her to the steering wheel. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" Harmony Kendall demanded.  
  
Wesley and Xander got out of the car; Wes went to the trunk, while Xander leaned back in. "Sorry Harmony, but you're sitting this one out. I don't want to get you hurt here..."  
  
The former Sunnydaler moved to leave, but then stopped and looked back at her. "And yes, after hearing that line from Buffy and Willow a million times it does seems strange that I'm actually saying it to someone else! But just sit tight, and after we kill the bad guy we'll get the food and be back in time to have a mug of pig's blood warmed up and waiting for Cordy when she gets back."  
  
Harmony watched them close the trunk, and was shocked as the duo took out some weapons and hid them under their coats. Xander had a spiked mace with a chain holding it onto a handle, while Wesley had a long, sharp-looking curved sword. She watched them walk towards the large office building, with more than a little trepidation.  
  
'Kill the bad guy?' Harmony thought. 'What bad guys are around here...' her thoughts stopped, when the blonde teenager saw the large sign on the lawn at the end of the block.  
  
Wolfram & Hart  
  
'Oh, shit!!' Harmony thought, as she grabbed her cell phone with her free hand. 'Cordy's going to kill him, and then me!' The girl quickly hit the second speed dial on her phone, and prayed for the first time in years.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"I still say we should just mind our own business, Alex," Wesley muttered to Xander, as they walked on the plaza in front of the building toward the entrance.  
  
Xander stopped and looked at him. "No way, Wes. I'm not that 'fraidy-cat little boy that ran out of town with his tail between his legs, a year ago. This vamp Winters is causing problems? He's going down. I mean how much trouble can a law firm be, anyway? This way, there's no way to trace it back to Cordelia. You ready with the spell?"  
  
The older man nodded, as he recited a few words in Latin. "There, that should do it. Any surveillance camera will go on the fritz, as soon as we come near it."  
  
"So, no pictures of us?"  
  
"Correct. But it'll only last for about 30 minutes or thereabouts, so we'd best hurry," the Watcher said, as they moved towards the door.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Say again, Mike?" Larry the front door guard said into his radio.  
  
//A few lobby cameras are screwed up,// came the reply.  
  
"Should we lock down the building until the techs get 'em fixed?"  
  
//No, there's too many high-level meetings today. And I want to live to see my pension.//  
  
Larry looked over to see two men in trench coats walk into the lobby, and they seemed to look at the flat unusual scanner by the door in surprise. "Can I help you gentlemen?"  
  
The older man smiled. "Yes, you can. We're looking for a Mr.-"  
  
A red phone started to ring nearby, and cut off the man. "Lobby. This is Larry..."  
  
The two men watched, as the guard whipped his head around to look at them. "Is there a problem? Did my keys set off the medal detector again?" the British man stopped, when he saw Larry's face go white with fear.  
  
He hung up the phone and moved to them, "Terribly sorry for the wait, gentlemen. You can go on through."  
  
The two looked at each other in mild surprise. "Thank you. I wonder, could you tell us where we could find Russell Winters?" Alyssa's mentor asked.  
  
"Yes, sir!" Wes and Xander watched, as the guard ran over to the desk and grabbed the visitor log. "Mr. Winters is in a meeting, on the 16th floor. Conference Room C."  
  
"Thank you. We just have to touch base with him about a land deal before we fly home tonight," Wesley then lied to him.  
  
"That's fine, sir, take your time!" Larry said, as he waved them through.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
As they got into the elevator, Xander looked at Wesley. "Why was he freaking out so bad?"  
  
"I don't know," the Watcher told him. "But personally, I don't want to stick around to find out..."  
  
They got out on the 16th floor and went over to the little 'You Are Here' sign, and quickly found Conference Room C.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Yes, sir," Lindsey MacDonald told Russell Winters. "The restraining order against Ms. Chase went out this morning. She will not be a problem any longer. In fact, we..." He was cut off by the sound of the doors opening.  
  
The lawyer watched, as two men came right up to the head of the table. "We were going to ask which one of you was Russell Winters," the younger man said with a smirk. "But guessing by the extreme lack of a tan, I'm thinking I already know the answer to that."  
  
"Is there a problem here?" Lindsey asked, as he stepped between the newcomers and Winters.  
  
"Not as far as we're concerned. And you are?" the British man asked him.  
  
Lindsey handed him a business card, with the Wolfram & Hart logo. "I'm Mr. Winters' attorney. And I would like to state for the record to you that my client has never been arrested, or convicted of any crime. Nor will he ever be."  
  
The two men looked at each other for a moment. Lindsey started to turn to look at Winters, when Wesley's elbow hit him directly in the face. As the lawyer staggered for a moment, the Watcher grabbed his hair and smashed his head on top of the polished table, instantly knocking Lindsey unconscious.  
  
The other people in the room looked on in shock, but Winters looked only mildly interested. "I take it you gentlemen have a matter to discuss with me," he asked facetiously, looking at them.  
  
"You killed someone awhile back, and some people got pissed over it. So they called us," the younger man told him simply.  
  
Winters' eyebrows went up. "You're from the Order of Taraka?" he asked in disbelief.  
  
The younger man nodded as he took out his weapon, as did his friend. "Yeah. At least, we will be," the kid shrugged.  
  
Winters was up and moving faster than they could follow; the vamp knocked Xander out of the way, and went for Wesley. The Watcher had just enough time to put his sword in front of him - Winters was moving too fast to avoid it, and he yelled in pain as it cut through his undead flesh.  
  
"Do you have any idea how much this suit cost? And this shirt is pure imported silk!" the bloodsucker yelled.  
  
Xander struck, while Winters was distracted. He wrapped the chain part of his weapon around the vamp's neck, and pulled him away. "Stake him!" he yelled to Wes.  
  
"I don't have one!" Wesley told him.  
  
"What?!" Xander demanded, as he was holding onto the struggling vampire with all his might. "That's kind of basic equipment here!"  
  
"Well, I thought you brought one!" the Brit responded.  
  
Winters finally ripped the weapon out of Xander's hand, and shoved him back towards the wall of tinted windows. Xander had the tiniest fraction of a second to duck before his stolen weapon flew over his head; it hit the glass, causing a large set of cracks to form down its length.  
  
At the same time, both men had the same idea. Wesley grabbed Winters from behind, and Xander from the side; and before the vampire could stop them, they ran him right towards the large cracked window.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Why the hell won't she answer!!?" Harmony fumed to herself, as she redialed Cordelia's cell number.  
  
She kept getting an 'out of range' message. But the vision had supposedly sent them nowhere near that far! The blonde girl screamed in frustration again, then turned her head sharply skyward out the window when a crash was heard.  
  
The teenager froze, as she watched a man in a dark business suit fall out a high window. And seconds after he fell, the guy started to catch on fire.  
  
'Vampire,' Harmony thought immediately. She watched in fascination as he made it halfway down, and then turned into dust. 'Well, that was interesting...'  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"So then," Wesley said, as Xander retrieved his weapon from the floor. "I'd say our work here is done..."  
  
They turned to leave, and Xander added one more thing to try and fool the remaining people watching them depart. "Man, the Order is never going to let us in if they hear we had such a hard time, dusting one lousy vampire!"  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Larry looked around nervously, as alarms were going off all over the building. And Mike was not answering on his radio...  
  
"I must say this is a very unprofessional thing to have happen here, young man!" the guard froze when he heard a British voice.  
  
"I'm terribly sorry, sir," Larry quickly told him, trying not to panic. "This is, uh, normally a quiet workplace..." he reassured the men, as he ushered them out.  
  
"We overheard some people in the elevator say there was a fight or something, on the 22nd floor. Most unprofessional," the Brit said, as he and Xander casually went out the door.  
  
But as soon as they cleared the front plaza, the duo took off in a run for the car. Wesley used the remote starter to pop the trunk; they both quickly tossed their coats and weapons in it and closed it, as they ran to the doors on the driver's side.  
  
Wes un-cuffed Harmony, and floored it out of there. And when they were clear of the area, Harmony turned her pissed-off glare towards Xander. "What the HELL did you two just do?!"  
  
Xander didn't notice her anger, or ignored it if he did. "We slayed a vampire, Harm. It's sorta what we do. Now, do you know if Cordy still likes to eat regular food - or is she strictly on a pure blood diet now?"  
  
Harmony couldn't believe it. "You just killed a vampire at Wolfram & Hart, and you wanna know what Cordelia eats?!"  
  
The former Slayerette shrugged. "Well, yeah. I mean, it'd be rude if she wanted some and we didn't get her anything! Wes, let's get an extra order of Angel hair pasta; she always loved that."  
  
"Of course, Alex," Wes nodded, as he turned a corner.  
  
Harmony just looked back and forth at the two men, wondering how the hell she was going to explain all this to Cordelia.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
'I bet if Alex sat down and wrote down the things his family does he'd get a hit sitcom and be set for life' the younger Slayer thought as she left the Harris residence carrying the box of Xander's old clothes.  
  
'Hmmm…Now that I think about it, those Weasels were right. The practice dummies we set up in that old warehouse are good for stress relief. But once I get these old clothes on them, they'll be perfect' Alyssa thought to herself, smiling as she made her way to the warehouse.   
  
However the Chosen One was unaware that she was being followed…  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Cordelia, Doyle, and their new friend that they'd brought back with them walked into the office - just as the others were finishing their meals.  
  
"About time you got back, Cor," Xander told her, annoyed. "I was about to call out the Coast Guard to find you guys!" He shook his head. "I don't know how I used to put up with you..."  
  
"Hey! She can take care of herself, pal..." Doyle bristled. But Cordelia putting her hand on his arm stopped him. He looked over and saw amusement in the ensouled vampire's face, which was a very rare sight indeed.  
  
"You put up with me?! Oh, please, I like totally carried your lazy ass all the time!" the female vamp retorted.  
  
Xander stood facing her. "Right, like you ever carried anything other than your makeup kit back then..."  
  
Wesley and Doyle cringed at the start of an argument. But Harmony was the only one who knew what was really going on; that her former classmates were flirting with one another.  
  
"Hey, at least I cared about looking good. But you wouldn't know that, since you got most of your shirts at Wal-Mart!"   
  
By now, they were nose to nose. "Well, excuse me if I didn't want to spend five hundred bucks on an outfit that I would only wear once!" Xander hissed at her.  
  
Doyle was very surprised to see the look of pure lust come over Cordelia's face, and fought down a sudden burst of fear.  
  
But at that moment Harmony came over, and took Cordelia by the arm. "We need to talk!" she said, as the blonde teenager started to drag the unwilling vampire to the inner office.   
  
"What's going..." was all Cordelia got out, before Harmony slammed the door closed.  
  
With no sound coming out of the office they could hear, the people in the outer office just watched. Xander knew exactly what the blonde was telling her.   
  
"Do you think she'll be very upset, Alex?" Wesley asked him.   
  
But as he was about to answer a shrill scream was heard from the office, causing Xander to flinch. "He did WHAT!!?"  
  
In seconds the door opened and Cordelia yelled out, "Alexander LaVelle Harris! Get your lame ass into my office, right NOW!"  
  
Wesley gave him a pat on the back, as the young man looked at him. "If I don't make it out alive, tell my mom that I love her..."   
  
After Harmony came out the door closed behind Xander, and the new blonde girl turned towards Doyle. "Is, is she always this mad?" the she asked.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Cordelia was fuming. As soon as the door closed, she grabbed Xander by the ear and dragged him into the old elevator. Then she just glared at him as they rode down to a dark, dungeon-like living area - one that seemed almost homey.  
  
"Nice decorating, Cordy..." the guy started to say, but the pain of her twisting his ear shut him up.  
  
"Save it!" the female vampire ordered, as she deposited him on a couch as she took the chair across from him. "Now, just what the hell did you think you were doing?!"  
  
He rubbed his sore ear for a moment. "Take it easy, Cor. Look, it's what Wes and I do, you know that. See a vampire, slay a vampire." He looked up at her quickly. "Present company excluded, of course."  
  
The former human was unmoved. "Damn it, Xander! Do you know how lucky you are to still be alive?!"  
  
"Cordy. It was one vampire. And you've seen me dust vampires on my own before. Hell, I dusted three that one time we got attacked after we went to the movies," he responded, annoyed.  
  
"You were laid up in bed for four days after that fight, Harris!" the demon with a soul reminded him.  
  
The young man nodded. "Yeah, but I had Nurse Cordelia to help me recover..."  
  
Her anger fell slightly, as she blushed; Cordelia remembered that massive make-out session on his bed perfectly well. "Yeah, I remember that, but for a year now I've only had those memories of you left. Now you're back, and you're risking your neck for no good reason!"  
  
"Cordy, I..."  
  
The vamp held up her hand, cutting him off. "Xander, you should know you don't need to prove yourself to me! I know you can take care of yourself. I'm not the bottle-blond Hellmouth-y One or her sidekick, the redheaded Wicked Witch of the West. Goddamn it, by now Wolfram & Hart will have started hunting for you and your friend up there. So you'll have to lay low for a while..."  
  
"Why?" Xander asked her. "That vampire was killing people. You think a lawyer is going to come after us for taking him out?"  
  
"Xander," his one-time girlfriend said softly. "Wolfram & Hart are evil."  
  
"Evil? Uh, Cordy? They're lawyers. So that's sorta right up there in the job description," Xander said, confused.  
  
"No, damn it Xander!" she sighed. "They're evil, as in real evil – not human evil. They work for demons and stuff. Doyle's friends are scared shitless of them. They can send their own SWAT teams, or they can make almost anyone disappear just like that and get away with it. By now, your picture will be everywhere..."  
  
Xander shook his head. "No, it isn't. Wes did a spell that screwed their cameras for 30 minutes. And we were out in twenty. They've got no pictures of us, I promise..."  
  
Cordelia watched, as he got up and went in the kitchen opening the fridge. "What are you doing!?" she asked, panicked, as he took out a packet of blood. She ran over when her ex-boyfriend dumped some of it into a mug, and put in the microwave.  
  
After a few seconds, the microwave stopped and he gave her the blood. Cordy stared at it, then back at him with a growing uneasy feeling. "What?"  
  
"Cor, we stopped to get munchies after we took care of Winters, and I know you have a fairly restricted diet these days. I figured you shouldn't be left out. So drink up, already!"  
  
Her hands trembled, as she looked at the hot, tempting, alluring blood. "No, Xander I...I can't. Not now. You..."  
  
The man stood his ground. "I'm not going anywhere, Cor."  
  
Tears came to her eyes. "No...I can't do this. Not while you're...here. I won't let you see me like..." she broke into sobs.  
  
Xander was moving in to hold her, but she backed away. "No, Xander! Stay away! Don't you get it? I'm not that girl anymore! I'm a monster!" Cordy cried, as she sank to the floor.  
  
The young man sat down next to her and grabbed onto her, as she tried to push him away. "You're not a monster, Cordy! Okay, your body might have gone a bit wacky, but it's still you in there! You wanted to stay with me when you thought I got turned into a fish monster, remember? So you really think I'm going to leave you now?"  
  
The vampire looked at him through her tears, slightly startled at his commanding tone. She then watched him take the mug off the spot on the floor, and put it in her hands. "Now drink up, Cordelia! This is something I'm going to be seeing a lot of, so I better get used to it."  
  
"You're going to see a lot of?" she asked, her voice trembling.  
  
"Hell, yeah. If I'd have known you had gotten your soul back, I would have hauled ass back to California to find you a long time ago," Xander said, as he gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Now do the game face thing and drink, already."  
  
"Xander..." her voice hardly above a whisper. "Please. I don't want you to see me like that." The tears started coming freely. "You should remember her like she was your loving girlfriend. Not a..."  
  
"Damn it, Cordelia!" he shouted, shocking her. "Will you quit talking like that? Look. You told me once, that I knew you better than anyone. So now, as duly-appointed expert on Cordelia Chase, I can tell you one thing for certain."   
  
Xander Harris looked her straight in the eyes. "I can swear before God almighty that Cordelia Chase is sitting here, right in front of me."  
  
The ensouled vampire just stared at him for a long time, before she pulled up all the courage inside her and morphed. She experienced a twinge of fear for a moment as his face flinched a tiny bit, but he didn't move or run away screaming.  
  
"Drink, Cordy," Xander ordered her.  
  
Cordelia tried not to gulp it down; she didn't want him to know just how much she desired the liquid. And after she was done, the demoness quickly morphed her face back into its human appearance. The visitor from Sunnydale then reached up, and stroked her cheek. "Feel better?"  
  
The former May Queen moved her hand up to clasp his. "Yeah," she said, a heartbeat later.  
  
Xander then shrugged. "How about I go tell the guys upstairs to leave us alone for awhile, so we can get caught up? I'm sure we both have a lot to tell each other, about the last year."  
  
"Okay," she said simply, as he got up and moved and went up the stairs. And as Cordy heard the upstairs door open, she let a single tear fall down her face.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
They all looked up, as Xander came through the door. "How's it going?" Harmony asked with genuine concern.  
  
"Good, I think. We're just getting to the talking part, but I just wanted to make sure you guys'll give us some time alone down there," he told them. "We've got a lot of catching up to do."  
  
Wesley came over, and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're sure everything is okay?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Alex..." Wesley started to say. "You know that I have every confidence in you. But about the curse, can you..."  
  
"Wesley?" Xander interrupted, with a scowl. "Don't go there. If...that ever happened, I'd be like the Crown Prince of Hypocrites after what happened with Buffy and Angel! So there's nothing to worry about."  
  
"Well, good. Right, then, I'm going to hit the mall we saw about two miles back. I need several souvenirs to send back to Ms. Summers," the Watcher said with a laugh.  
  
Xander looked at him, the animosity instantly forgotten. "You know she's going to kill you one day for this, don't you?" And when the older man just shrugged, the boy asked, "Fine, any idea on what to get her?"  
  
"Actually..." Wesley started to say. "...maybe a Mission Impossible soundtrack CD. Because I am on a very important mission, you know," Wesley said with a smirk.  
  
"Forget that, pal. You're digging your own grave, I tell you."  
  
"Well, she's probably going to kill me anyway," Wesley replied.  
  
"Yeah, but it shouldn't be over a lame movie CD."  
  
"So what are you planning to send Buffy, then?" Harmony asked as Wesley shrugged and gave Xander the benefit of the doubt.  
  
"Ah, I was thinking the alternative would be a few Hollywood T-shirts. All one size too small, of course. And maybe a Carrot Top autograph..."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
When Xander came back down, he saw that Cordelia had started a fire. He looked over at the crackling coming from the fireplace and asked, "I thought fire was a bad thing to you now?"  
  
She nodded, as she sat back on the couch. "It's not for me. It just gets cold down here, for some reason."  
  
"Thanks," the young man said simply, as he sat near her. They then both looked at each other for a few minutes, without saying a word.  
  
"Well, I guess someone has to start," Xander wisecracked finally.  
  
"Where were you, Xander?" Cordelia asked. "Willow and Jenny tried to find you, several times. But every locator spell went all kablooey..."  
  
That made his eyebrows go up. "Really? Huh. Don't know why that happened. To tell ya the truth, I was sure Buffy would show up with a hunting party before long..."  
  
"But where did you go?" she asked again.  
  
"Chicago."  
  
"Why the heck would you go that far?"  
  
Xander shrugged. "I had family there. But true to form, with my luck there were vamps there as well..."  
  
Her eyes filled with concern. "Please, tell me you didn't try to take on a whole city full of vampires by yourself!?"  
  
"I might have. But I was too busy trying to keep Lys from killing me."  
  
"Who, or what, is Lys?" the vampire then asked.  
  
"Alyssa Friedman. Turns out she became the Slayer, after Kendra died. And to top it all off, she's Willow's cousin," the teenager shrugged.  
  
Cordelia's jaw dropped. "The nerd has a Slayer for a cousin!?"  
  
"Yeah," Xander leaned back, as he filled her in on the rest. "She was in Sunnydale when we were kids, so she knew me. And Willow had told her a bit of how I was now a cold-blooded murderer, so Alyssa tried a few times to, um, bring me to justice. But luckily, she never got around to telling Willow that I was in her city."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Dunno for sure, but I think she wanted to give Wills my head on a silver platter as a birthday surprise. Plus, she really didn't like it that I didn't remember her at first. She says that girls always remember their  
  
first boyfriends..."  
  
"Boyfriend?!" Cordy instantly yelled. "How can you have been her first boyfriend? You said that I was your first girlfriend!"  
  
"Calm down, honey," Xander said quickly, the endearment slipping out unconsciously. "From what I remember, we just kissed when we were little kids. I didn't even really remember it, till she brought it up while she was interrogating me."  
  
Xander watched as Cordelia growled a little bit, and her eyes briefly flashed the yellow of a vampire. "Cor?"  
  
She took a few deep breaths, before answering. "Sorry, it's the demon inside me. She wanted to find you, as much as I did. And to hear now that a Slayer thought of you as her boyfriend...well. It kind of pissed her off..."  
  
"Wait up," Xander said, holding up his hands. "You can communicate with your demon?"  
  
Cordelia shook her head. "Not directly. She slips in sometimes during my dreams, but I just get her feelings most times. It took a whole long while to get used to it. Giles helped me learn a few meditation techniques, to help calm us both down."  
  
Xander went back to telling her everything else that had happened to him. It was quite a list, too...  
  
Lys's first Watcher getting killed, the torture session with Drusilla, Travers putting Alyssa through the Cruciamentum and his helping her on it. Then all three of them moving to Sunnydale, and his avoiding Buffy and the others.  
  
When Xander was done, he noticed his companion tearing up. "What's wrong?"  
  
Cordelia couldn't help it, and wiped some tears away. "We heard from a drunk Spike that Dru was chasing you. Then I had that dream that she got you..."  
  
Her voice wavered, "And that she turned you." She looked sadly at him. "It was Christmas, for God's sake! And I had to watch my little sister and my parents, through a damn skylight in the mansion! What with the First Evil and the vision that you were Drusilla's new 'kitten', well..."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Sunnydale, California. Christmas, 1998  
  
"Cordelia, please, you can't do this!" Harmony pleaded with her desperately, as the ensouled vampiress walked up the hill.  
  
Cordelia didn't pay any attention to her friend, she just stopped at the top of Kingman's Bluff. The sunrise was coming. She could smell it. Soon, soon the sun would come up, and end her suffering once and for all.  
  
The same thought kept running nonstop in her mind. 'He's dead. He's dead. He's dead. He's dead.'  
  
Harmony tried to pull her back, but Cordelia wouldn't budge. So the blond cheerleader tried another approach. She slapped the vampire, hard.   
  
But all that accomplished was making her jump, when Cordelia grabbed her wrist in a tight grip.  
  
"It doesn't matter anymore, Harmony! Nothing matters anymore!" Cordelia screamed. "He's dead! Damn it, he was the reason I was trying, the reason I wasn't giving up. I'm nothing without him!"  
  
"That's bullshit!" Harmony screamed back. "Look, I know how much you loved the guy; and that you two got the biggest raw deal in history. But you can't live through him! It's the 20th century, for crying out loud, you're your own woman..."  
  
"No I'm not! I'm a damn demon, in my own undead body!" the brunette yelled back. "And even before all this, I was the Queen Bitch of Sunnydale High! I had no life; I was just another girl on the fast track to a possible eating disorder, a cheating rich husband and years of never-ending therapy. But then I discovered a guy who liked me for me..."  
  
Harmony listened silently, as the tears came down and Cordelia kept going. They both knew that Harmony had been one of those people who had put so much pressure on her friend to be popular...  
  
"For the first time, I could see a future that I wanted to live in, Harm. Spending my life with him. He was my heart, and I was his..."  
  
"But what about Chloe?"  
  
That just caused another set of tears to fall. "My little sister is fine without me. Everyone is better off without me." She stopped and smiled. "It's coming. I can feel the sun, already..."  
  
"Then answer me this, Cor."  
  
Cordelia's head whipped around, at someone else using Xander's pet name for her.  
  
Harmony continued, "You said that you were nothing before him. Well, do you think he would have wanted you as a girlfriend if you were really as bad as you think? Would that...uh, wonderful guy have started to go out with you just as a pity-date?" she leaned into Cordelia's face. "No. He saw a beautiful, wonderful, caring woman. Like, did he ever try to hide your relationship with him?"  
  
Cordelia blinked. "No. Hell, Xander tried several times to get me to go out with him in public. He always wanted everyone to know he was my boyfriend..."  
  
"Yeah, see, but you're missing the point. He wanted everyone to know that you were his girlfriend. You, the Queen Bitch. And you know it wasn't because he wanted to become popular! You told me how you joined up with the Slayerettes, even before you two started messing around in those broom  
  
closets..."  
  
Harmony waved her hands out over the town, down the hill. "Everyone in that town owes their lives not only to Buffy Summers, but also to Xander and you. She's just one girl, Cordy! Okay, granted, Slayer - One Girl In All The World, or whatever. But she'd be six feet under without all of you there to help! I mean, how long did Mr. Giles say Slayers who were by themselves last on average? Ten, twelve months?!"  
  
"It doesn't matter," Cordelia stated firmly. "Even if Xander wasn't dead now, the truth is - he woulda died one day. Then what? There's nothing left for me anymore, Harmony. I mean, honestly, what do I have to look forward to?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
Cordelia ignored the interruption. "Watching the world go on without me? Becoming like that Frankenstein reject, Daryl Epps? Always living in the shadows, never being able to part of anything anymore? Just nothing but constant fighting and torment?"  
  
"Cordy!" Harmony yelled at her. "Remember what you told me about how helping people with Xander made you feel? Like you mattered, that you weren't just a beautiful piece of window dressing? If nothing else, live for him! Let the last soul his memory saves be your own!"  
  
"I don't think if I can do that, Harmony," the vampire said, as she broke down even more. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing anymore..."  
  
"If you're asking me to promise it'll get better, I can't do that. But..." Harmony stopped mid-sentence, when she noticed something. "What the heck?"  
  
Cordelia slowly looked up, and saw something she never thought she would been in Sunnydale.  
  
Snow. It was snowing.  
  
The vampire looked up to where she'd felt the sun about to rise moments ago, but now she couldn't feel it anymore. It was just gone. All she could do was watch the now-heavy snowfall.   
  
"Where did those clouds come from?" Harmony asked, totally confused. "What the hell is going on..." she looked down at her friend, as the vampire started to laugh. "What?"  
  
Cordelia turned to look at her best friend, with a smile on her face. "Snow in Sunnydale? Totally blocking out the sun? I should have been deep-fried by now. But look..." she gestured to the dark sky. "I wonder..." the demon with a soul said to herself, as she looked skyward.  
  
Harmony looked at her, puzzled. "What, you think this could be some kind of sign? Maybe from..." she stopped, not having the guts to say it. She then saw Dawn and Chloe running towards them, off in the distance. 'Oh, no...'  
  
Cordelia bent down, picked up the quickly piling up snow and looked at it in her hand. "From him? His way of telling me to stick around, for a little while longer?"   
  
She looked up again. "No, I know it's not. But ya know what, Harmony? I think I'll accept the delusion that it is...just for a while."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Los Angeles, September 1999  
  
After she was done telling him about the past, Xander just moved right to the brunette girl and took her into his arms.   
  
And then Cordelia Chase, the ensouled vampire whose name was beginning to cause fear to the demons in LA...curled up into a fetal position in her former boyfriend's arms, and cried.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Doyle and Harmony stood in the inner office, as they watched the new blonde girl that Cordelia and Doyle had rescued from a lifetime of abuse work the computer like it was second nature.  
  
"So, her own family tried to kill her?" Harmony whispered.   
  
Doyle nodded sadly. "Yeah. Some crap that she was gonna turn evil, and only they could control her. So when she turned 18, and signed up for college in California..."  
  
"They tried to stop her," Harmony finished up, disgusted. "Did you sense anything wiggy from her?"  
  
"No," the half-demon replied. "Their story of demon genes was pile o' garbage; she's 100 % human. Neither I nor Cordy could sense anything, other than the fact that she has some magical potential in her."   
  
Doyle looked back to the blond, "You know, she probably needs a job – being out here by herself and all..."  
  
Harmony wasn't fooled, as she rolled her eyes. "Oh please, Doyle. You just want it so she'll do all the paperwork and the computer crap for you!"  
  
Doyle looked offended. "Hey! Let me tell you something, princess. I have many talents that you don't know about..."  
  
"Like being able to drink every other man at Spencer's under the table?" Before Doyle could argue in his defense, Harmony waved it off. "Now tell me, what the hell happened to you guys? UCLA isn't that far away..."  
  
The half-demon looked down. "We made a pit-stop at the, uh, Oracles."  
  
"The Greek people at the post office?"  
  
"Well, under the post office to be exact. And they're not Greek," Doyle shrugged. "But Cordy wanted to know if she could, ah, be with her old beau down there."  
  
Harmony looked back to the door leading to the stairs. "You talking about the no-sex thing?"  
  
"Yep, she wanted to know for sure. The 'Dark Avengeress' said she wasn't taking any chances with his life. Ignorance caused the entire Angelus thing in Sunnydale, and Cordy said that she'd rather become dust than hurt us or Xander if she turned," Doyle finished up, as he sat on the edge of the desk.  
  
"So, no sex then," Harmony restated.  
  
"Oddly enough, sweetheart, no. Sex ain't the factor in this," the seer shrugged. "Cordelia's happy isn't getting horizontal with the guy; this particular situation, that's not what's gonna make the soul go bye-bye. But hearing him say 'I love you' to her, is. Well, that and being together as a couple as well..."  
  
Harmony got confused. "Huh, how is Xander telling Cordy that he loves her a happy? He already said that, the night Angelus grabbed her..."  
  
"Ah, darlin', now that's different. See, our boy down there said the 'L' word to our boss back when she was just normal teenage Cordelia Chase -head cheerleader, and his girlfriend. You remember her nightmares?" heasked her.  
  
"Yeah," Harmony nodded. "The one where she would be making love to him in that hotel room, right? Then right before the big finish, she would see his horrified face from when he first saw her as a vampire..."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Wait, wait, wait," Xander said hurriedly. "So you're telling me we could have sex anytime we like, but no me saying those words?"  
  
Cordelia nodded. "I don't understand it, either. When Angel was human, he was sleeping with anything female with two legs. And yet, sex with Buffy was his happy." She then got a cruel look on her face, "Hell, Angelus even tried to get with me..."  
  
Xander looked at her in shock, and almost panic. "Cor, he didn't...I mean, after what he tried with Dawn...when he had you..."  
  
The vampire frowned for a moment, before she understood his sudden concern. "Oh! No, Xander! Angelus didn't try to rape me, before he turned me!"  
  
Xander's let out a huge sigh of relief, as he started to calm down. "Thank God! Please, Cor, don't do that to me!"  
  
Cordelia gave him one of her old huge smiles, as she saw his large concern for her. "Jerk..."  
  
Xander smiled as well, seeing that. "You don't know how much I missed that big smile of yours, Cordelia Chase..." He then saw something behind her, "Cor, is that what I think it is?"  
  
She looked behind her, and saw what he was looking at it. 'He remembers it!'  
  
Xander got up and walked over to the wall by the kitchen, looking over the large framed art. It was a painting of a wilderness scene in the wintertime. A very cheap-looking painting, too. "This was hanging in the hotel room, that night..."  
  
"You made fun of it when we got there," Cordelia said, as she joined him. "I'm kind of surprised that you remember it."  
  
He looked at her fondly. "You think there's a day that goes by, that I don't think about that night? Cordy, I should have been there with you. I was watching the damn Weather Channel, while he was doing God knows what to you..." tears formed in the man's eyes.  
  
"Xander! No!" Cordelia spluttered, as she wrapped her arms around him. "If you'd been there, Angelus would have killed you - or worse. So don't blame yourself, ever, for not being there. I don't, and I never will."  
  
She rested his head on her shoulder, as the guy tried not to cry. "Promise me that when you go back to Sunnydale, that..."  
  
His head came up quickly. "What? Sunnydale?! You think I'm going to leave you again?!"  
  
Cordelia almost cried, as she took his head in her hands. "Xander, you have to. Because we can't be together. As badly as I want to have you by my side, you can't be there. We both know that if you stay, even to just help out, that eventually we'll end up back right where we were before...on account of the feelings we still have."  
  
"Cor..."   
  
"And if that happens, then I won't be me anymore. I'll turn back into her. And I will not let that soulless bitch ever hurt you."  
  
"Well, can I still call you or stop by every now and then? I don't want this to be the last time I ever see you, already," Xander caressed her face, as Cordelia wiped the tears from her eyes.  
  
"This isn't the end, Xander. I won't let it be the end. But for tonight, I just want to be with you. One last time..."  
  
Xander moved to her, and drew his lips to hers. The kiss was small at first, but it slowly built back up to the passion-filled smoochies that they'd shared in that small closet in high school. They then continued to make out, as they clutched on to each other for dear life...  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Wesley Wyndham-Pryce looked through the mall with his 'gifts' for Ms. Summers, when he saw a very attractive woman leaving a bookstore.  
  
As socially inept as a geek who'd love Sci-Fi could be, Wes did the only thing he could think of. He used one of one of Alex's worst pickup lines...  
  
The woman looked at him coldly. "You can not be serious. That was supposed to impress me?"  
  
"Not really," Wesley shrugged. "But you're talking to me now, so it did its job admirably." He grinned. "I'm Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. It's a real pleasure to meet you, Ms.-?"  
  
"Morgan. Lilah Morgan."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Xander looked around Cordelia's bedroom. There were hardly any of the light pinks and other bright colors that had been her bedroom in Sunnydale...not that he'd been paying any attention to the decorations of her room, whenever he'd been in there with her.  
  
He saw few personal items. A few pieces of designer clothing, thrown here and there. The young man then picked up a well-worn copy of a paperback book, one he knew well. It was one of his favorites; Babylon 5: To Dream in the City of Sorrows. He vaguely recalled telling Cordelia about it, when they were dating...  
  
But the biggest thing in the room, was what drew all his attention. Cordelia had taken an old wallet-size picture of him and her together, blown it up into an 8x10 image and then had it imprinted in metal, which looked like bronze as he saw the color along the edges.  
  
Xander remembered how Willow had taken the picture, when they'd been at the beach with Oz. Xander had been fully dressed, since he had just come back from being at a Harris family reunion. And Cordelia, who'd been clad in a blue two-piece bikini and soaking wet, had run to him as soon as she saw him on the beach.  
  
She had jumped into his arms and pressed her wet body to his, laughing that she was ruining his only dress-up clothes. He had then grabbed her and lifted her off her feet, as they'd kissed. It was at that moment looking into each other's eyes, that Willow had snapped the picture.  
  
Xander guessed the metal version of the picture would last a very long time...  
  
He jumped slightly, as he heard a knock on the closed bedroom door. "Xander, are you ready?" came Cordelia's voice as he moved to sit back on the bed.   
  
"Yeah, I am Cor," he called back.  
  
Moments later the door to the rest of the living area opened up, and Xander couldn't believe what he saw. Because there stood Cordelia Chase, her long dark hair done up, and she was wearing a very sexy red lace teddy.  
  
It was so shear in front it was practically see-through, and held on by two tiny strips around her neck. She then did a quick turn that showed her bare back and tiny g-string, and said, "You like?"  
  
When Xander couldn't form the words to respond, Cordelia actually giggled. "Like I said, the demon wanted to find you as well. And she definitely planned well for it..."  
  
Cordelia walked slowly to him, looking down at his face. "I've missed you so much," she told him, as she stroked his face. "Make love to me, Xander."  
  
He pulled her head down to his, and they kissed hungrily.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
The next morning, an hour before sunrise, found Cordelia and Xander coming outside to joining Doyle and Harmony. "Where's the new girl?" Xander asked.  
  
"She was still sleeping when I left," Harmony told him. "Dennis is keeping an eye on her."  
  
"Dennis?"  
  
"Harmony's ghost roommate," Cordelia told him, as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Long story..."  
  
Wesley pulled up moments later, in his car. "Are you ready, Alex? Or are you staying here?" the Watcher asked carefully, as he got out.  
  
Cordelia and Xander looked at each other, on the verge of tears again. And it was a full minute, before he turned from her eyes to talk to Wesley. "Yeah, man, I'm ready to go. Don't have any choice in the matter. Neither of us does."   
  
He looked back to Cordelia. "But to quote Big Arnie, 'I'll be back'. That's a promise."  
  
As the two briefly-reunited lovers embraced and kissed, Doyle spoke to Wesley. "So, where did you run off to yesterday?"  
  
The British man grinned a little. "Actually, I met the most charming woman..."  
  
Doyle studied the Englishman's clothes; they looked almost torn and wrinkled, and like they had been quickly thrown on. "And ya went back to her place, I take it?"  
  
"I'm sorry, my friend, but a gentleman will never kiss and tell..." He then got into the car, along with Xander.  
  
Cordelia leaned down, and gave her ex one last kiss through the open car window. She looked at him, memorizing every bit of Xander Harris. His face, his smell, his slightly lopsided smile that always made her weak in the knees. Everything...  
  
Then minutes later she watched, as the car carried her beloved away from her.  
  
She felt Harmony's hand on her shoulder. "Are you going to be okay?"  
  
"God, I don't know. Maybe in time, I will be," Cordy told them, as she wiped her tears away. After the car vanished around a corner a few streets down, the vampire turned slowly to her friends. "I have a job for you two..."  
  
"What do you need?" Harmony asked her.  
  
"I want to know everything there is to know, about one Alyssa Friedman."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Wolfram & Hart  
  
As soon as Larry entered the boardroom, escorted by two of his friends, he knew that he was in for it.  
  
But the one thing he hadn't expected, was for Mike to be in the hot seat as well. Things must have gotten really screwed up yesterday, for the head of security to be in deep trouble along with a grunt like himself...  
  
Larry moved towards the empty seat right next to Mike and sat down, facing a table with Holland Manners, Linwood, Nathan Reid and a group of other higher-ups behind it. To his side, he saw a young lawyer with tape on his nose and a tall, insect-like demon with a spear guarding the door into the Conference Room.  
  
"How bad is it looking?" Larry quietly asked Mike.  
  
"Really bad. Those guys walked in like they own the place, throw a VIP out through the window and then vanish? We're dog meat."  
  
"But you said..."  
  
"I know what I said, so let me do the talking," Mike said.  
  
"No problem...wow."  
  
"Wow, what?" Mike said, when he saw what Larry had been ogling. "Forget she even exists, Larry," the guy quickly warned him.  
  
"With that rack and pair of chopsticks? No way!" Larry responded.  
  
"She's more than just that, Larry. Trust me on this," but Mike's warning fell on deaf ears as the brunette woman he was staring at walked next to the lawyer with the tape on his nose and stood next to him. She whispered something, smiling, while Lindsey just glared at her.  
  
"Now that we're all here, I'm sure you two screw-ups won't mind explaining to us why you let two intruders enter the building - armed," one of the higher-ups seethed, as the room got quiet.  
  
"Mr. Manners, sir, we just followed protocol," Larry said, ignoring Mike's orders to be quiet.  
  
"You just followed protocol?" Linwood said with a smirk.  
  
"Yes, sir," Larry said, nodding his head but already starting to sweat.  
  
"Strange. I don't recall any protocol that allows someone to walk in here and ASSASSINATE ONE OF OUR CLIENTS!!" Linwood yelled.  
  
"But, but sir," Larry sputtered. "We didn't know that would happen. We just ran them through the scanners, and they were cleared..."  
  
"AND WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING AS STUPID AS THAT, CONSIDERING THAT THEY  
  
WERE ARMED?" Nathan Reid demanded.  
  
"Uh, sir, if you would only look at this data..." Mike pleaded, handing a small palm pilot with video to Holland.  
  
Humoring them, the lawyer looked at the device he held to see what pathetic excuse they were trying to pander - when the 48-year-old man actually looked at the data.  
  
Holland then showed it to Linwood, who in turn showed it to the other one of the other higher-ups, who quickly passed it down. Within moments, the table was filled with undecipherable mumblings as the lawyers at the table each looked at the data on the palm pilot.  
  
Nathan, palm pilot in his possession then barked out, "The two of you, get back to your posts. We'll deal with you later... As for everyone else, out" the lawyer ordered.   
  
The Conference Room began to empty out as the two security guards looked at each other in bewilderment. They'd thought they were going to be goners for sure, when Holland walked up to the female lawyer and the nose-tape lawyer and whispered something to them.   
  
Then before anyone knew it, the demon guard was pointing towards the boardroom door with its spear. Both security guards knew not to test its patience, considering that it was one of the most powerful demons they knew off and even if they had sidearms, they would only annoy it. As they walked through the door into the hall, they heard something behind them and both turned around and they saw that an orange portal opened, with a dark, forbidding looking Citadel on the other side of it and Linwood and Reid began to step through it with a young woman that Mike remembered as being in charge of the law firm's files and records.  
  
If that was what Mike thought it was, they were in bigger trouble then they he had thought. 


	28. Angel and Demons

Sunnydale, California. September 1999  
  
'Well, at least no one is getting stabbed,' the Chosen One thought as she stood in the middle of a cracked, barren wasteland, surrounded by broken hills in the distance. Looking up at the sky, the Slayer noticed that this world overhead was a deep red color...when she thought she heard something.  
  
Looking in front of her, the Slayer saw a cloud of fire and smoke appear in a vague form in front of her, towering over her. Within the inferno, were eyes that burned like twin suns and that were filled with malice and destruction.  
  
The demon looked at her as if in contempt before it roared, then it drew out a large, black metal sword, swinging it back into the air, holding it up. And for the first time since she had become the Slayer, she knew Fear. But before it did anything else, the Chosen One heard a familiar voice shout out, "STOP!"  
  
The Slayer looked behind herself, and saw the owner of the commanding voice. It was Xander.   
  
"What are you doing?" the girl demanded in astonishment.  
  
"Oh, you mean I can't check up on my favorite girl?" Xander said in mock hurt as his face became ridged and grotesque, his eyes went yellow and his mouth filled with gleaming ivory fangs.  
  
"I'm your favorite girl?" the Slayer said, a smile now on her face.  
  
"Of course you are. And you always will be, Buff," Xander said, smiling with what could be mistaken as love in his eyes.  
  
"Then you'll excuse me if I do THIS!!" the Slayer shouted, as she produced a stake and tried to stab the bloodsucker with it.  
  
But with his supernatural agility, the undead asshole evaded the stake, laughing. He then held out his hand, and snapped his fingers.  
  
Immediately, the blonde Slayer felt a sudden pain in her abdomen; and as she looked down, she saw a trail of blood flowing from a wound that had been made by the demon behind her, its sword dripping with blood.   
  
Buffy looked away from the gargantuan thing back to Xander, and saw that sadistic smile on his face. The one often seen in her dreams, the one she wanted to hit with a brick to smash it off his face.  
  
Feeling the life seeping out of her, the Slayer collapsed onto the ground. Her final thoughts were, of course, on that of the man who was her one true love; the ensouled vampire named Angel, that been betrayed and murdered by her so-called friend...  
  
Suddenly, Buffy realized that she was no longer lying down on the char blasted-ground. The Slayer looked around and noticed that she was standing at a beach, underneath a blue sky, and surrounded by sand and surf with the sun warmly illuminating her face.  
  
And that was when she heard her name being called, just behind her. "Buffy..."   
  
The petite blonde heard that in a deep, familiar bass tone of voice that echoed a few times, when she felt something on her shoulder.  
  
She looked back and saw a faceless, hooded, human-shaped figure wearing silver armor, with a few gold adornments leaning its head over her shoulder. It had wings or tendrils of white energy that came out from its back, ones that shimmered and sparkled like nothing she had ever seen before. The light felt like it should have blinded her, and yet she was able to see him with no trouble.  
  
"Whoa!! What are you?" the Slayer asked, awed, staring at the being.   
  
"Isn't it obvious?" the faceless being responded.  
  
"Are you an angel?" the blonde whispered.  
  
"In more ways than one," the angel said.  
  
"Who are you?" Buffy asked.  
  
"You of all people should know," the angel said, as it brought its faceless visage down to her lips, as if to kiss her, but she felt nothing.  
  
It was then that Buffy knew who it was.  
  
It was Angel.   
  
With an expression of pure bliss, the Slayer reached up with her hand and brushed it against his hooded cheek. "Angel? How did you find me here?"  
  
The man smiled in the sunlight. "Even if I was blind, I would still be able to find you wherever you were, love."  
  
Buffy lowered her hand to take his again at her waist, and closed her eyes. Then she embraced his arms tightly to her, giving him her back. "Stay with me," she asked her beloved, shutting her eyes more firmly and trying to capture this moment forever.  
  
Angel shook his head. "I'm always with you, Buffy. Forever. That's the whole point. It's the one thing Xander was never able to take away from us..."  
  
Buffy snapped her eyes open, memories of the Traitor and the vampire he had become rushing into her mind. "Just now, he almost killed me..."  
  
Angel turned her around, and stared into her hazel orbs. "You need to be ready, Buffy. You need to know who to trust."  
  
The Chosen One was confused. "What are you saying?"  
  
"What he's saying is that you should keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer," the veteran Slayer heard.  
  
Looking at the source of the voice, Buffy saw Xander, in his vampiric form and that blonde vamp that had given her a tough time the night before on campus, embracing each other, a lustful smile on the blonde's face as she rested her head against his chest.  
  
"I don't believe this. What next? The two of you are going to go find Cordy, for a nice evil threesome?" the blonde Slayer spat out.  
  
"I like the way you think, Slayer, but why not make it a foursome with Dawn?" Xander said, smirking.   
  
"Stay away from both of them," Angel said, stepping in front of Buffy to protect her. But before he could Buffy threw a stake at him, and the weapon embedded itself in Xander's heart.  
  
Xander collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain; then he lay still, unmoving.   
  
Looking at her staked companion, the blonde vampire known as Sunday rushed the star-crossed lovers with rage- when one of Angel's tendril-like wings lashed out and wrapped itself around her ankle and gave a quick yank, knocking Sunday onto the floor.  
  
Before the blonde could recover, another tendril wrapped itself around her neck and began dragging her to the couple, whereupon more wrapped themselves around each of her limbs and raised her into the air as Angel unsheathed a broadsword, glowing with a gold and azure light.  
  
"Hope you chose the right target, Angel," Sunday sneered. "'Cause you'll only get one shot!" she said, before Angel cut off her head.  
  
As Sunday turned into dust, Angel and Buffy were interrupted by the sound of clapping; and both turned around to see Xander applauding them.  
  
"Not bad, Deadboy," Xander gloated as he snapped his fingers, and a large blue-skinned demon with warped horns, large leather wings and a large serrated sword appeared. The newcomer stared at Angel before it growled out a challenge, and moved towards him.  
  
Mirroring the demon, Angel also moved towards the fiend.  
  
As both beings' swords clashed, Buffy looked on with confidence; knowing that Angel would beat the demon Xander had summoned just as easily as he had with Sunday, when she saw Xander smirk.  
  
"What's so funny?" she demanded.  
  
"Ever seen an unwinable fight?" her former friend said.  
  
"What exactly are you saying?" Buffy asked, confused.  
  
"Don't you notice something odd about them?" Xander then said, smiling.  
  
'What kinda game is he playing?' the Chosen One thought to herself, as she looked at the combatants.  
  
But after a few minutes, Buffy realized what Xander had meant. Neither Angel nor the demon had been able to gain any advantage over the other, as they fought. Even more intriguing was that they each seemed to know what the other was about to do, long before they did it.  
  
"What did you do?" she demanded to the vampire.  
  
"Me? Nothing. It's just neither of 'em will be able to gain an advantage over the other, for one simple reason. See, they're the same, Angel and Angelus."  
  
'That's Angelus?!?!' Buffy thought to herself with horror, as she looked at the grotesque demon. This was the true from of the demon that had inhabited the body of her boyfriend! With all of her fury, Buffy swung a punch at Xander that connected with his face. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded hotly.  
  
Xander shook off the blow. "Well, you see, Angelus isn't too happy that Angel is getting off scot-free for their crimes. He wants to bring him home for trial. And, before you tell me that's a bunch of crap and that they're separate people? Then answer me this. If they are different people, then why do they fight the same way like that? And more importantly, why did Angel enjoy all the mayhem Angelus created, deep down?"  
  
Buffy was silent upon hearing that revelation. But then again, it was very likely that Xander was just lying to her.  
  
"Don't look at me like that, Buffy. I mean what do you know about Liam, anyway? He sure wasn't a saint who read to the blind and rescued cats from trees, before he was turned," Xander said, before he looked at his watch.  
  
"My, look at the time," the undead bastard then smirked. "Real sorry about cutting this short Buff, but I got people's spines to rip out, as well as save some hearts and minds...in jars. I should get a date book; I just have so much fun going on! I'll be seeing you," he finished, right before Xander stuck his hand through her chest to tear out her heart.  
  
And then of course, she woke up on the floor of Willow's dorm room, where she had crashed the previous night.  
  
Buffy looked around, and saw Willow snoring in the bed next to her. 'Good old Willow,' the blonde girl thought with a smile on her face, banishing the confusion after waking up. 'The bestest friend a girl could ask for. I wonder what she's dreaming about? Probably Oz...'  
  
As the blonde freshman got up and got a glass of water, she replayed the events of the dream in her head. 'Hmmm, guess I'll have to talk to Giles about this...'  
  
Then Buffy began to wonder about the implications. Was the Xander vampire going to come back to town, and try to kill her? Had she just had a prophetic Slayer dream?  
  
'I wonder where the Traitor is these days, anyway?' Buffy then mused to herself. 'Oh well, it doesn't matter - I'll stake him one day. Wait a sec - maybe I should get Jenny to advertise in demon circles that Cordelia's in L.A.? He'll go there, they'll start banging each other again, and then I can stake them both with a clear conscience...'  
  
~*~*~*  
  
It took every ounce of self-control Alyssa had not to run all the way towards the apartment Alex and Wesley shared, especially with the sandals she had on. On her way to their residence, she tried not to think murderous thoughts. But as just as she'd thought she repressed them, images of Alex and those scantly clad "succubi" entered her mind.  
  
She was going to kill him.  
  
The both of them. They had some nerve! Going off on a sightseeing tour - 'In more ways than one,' Alyssa thought angrily - while they abandoned her to Buffy's "holier than thou" attitude and Professor Maggie "Der Führer" Walsh.  
  
Last night, after her practice session with attack dummies (that were dressed up to look like Alex) where a few had died horrible "deaths", the younger Slayer had left the makeshift training area and begun to patrol the town she was stationed in. It was while near the UC Sunnydale campus that Alyssa came across Buffy; and after suggesting that two Slayers would be a more formidable force, the redhead joined Buffy on her patrol when they came across a small group of three vampires.  
  
Buffy immediately ordered Alyssa to fight the minions, while she decided to take on the assumed leader. Alyssa dealt with the two minions in a fight that was easy, in her opinion. But then again, the two vampires had never gone up against a Slayer before, giving Alyssa the advantage of surprise.  
  
However, Buffy's fight with the blonde vampiress had ended with her defeat - due, in part, to some underhanded tactics. Sunday, as the vampiress called herself, had then told both Buffy and her to get lost - after she'd beaten up the veteran Slayer and then run away laughing.  
  
Before the blonde Slayer could even say anything to her, Alyssa said in a ditzy tone of voice, "Wow she must be real powerful since she was able to beat you. It's a good thing I didn't fight that Master vampire, she would have killed me!"  
  
The look on Buffy's face wasn't pretty, but she didn't say anything. Because even though she wouldn't admit it, Joyce's daughter knew that she had screwed up. The Slayers had then parted ways; with the redhead taking care of another four vamps before calling it a night.  
  
Reaching the door to the apartment, the Chosen One knocked on the door and didn't wait long as Wesley opened it. But on seeing the expression on her face after he opened the door, he was in fear of his life. The Englishman tried to quickly close the door, but the angry Slayer was faster. Grabbing him by the shoulder, Alyssa pushed Wesley back into the apartment while she seethed, "Where is he?"  
  
"Forget it, Slayer. I ain't talking," her Watcher imitated a movie Brooklyn gangster accent, trying not to laugh.  
  
"Have it your way then," the Slayer half-whispered, noticing that Wes was still grinning. 'Time to wipe that smile off your face,' the younger Chosen One thought, as she smirked at him. And unfortunately, she knew just how to get him to open up and sing like a canary.   
  
Alyssa began to sing herself.  
  
Last night I took a walk in the snow   
  
Couples holding hands, places to go   
  
Seems like everyone but me is in love  
  
Santa can you hear me  
  
Wesley's eyes opened wide with horror upon hearing those lyrics, causing the redhead's grin to get bigger. Covering his ears with his hands, Wesley started to hum out loud, "I'm not hearing this, I'm not hearing this..."  
  
But the British man was powerless to prevent his charge from pulling his hands away from his ears, holding them in her stronger grip as she continued to sing.  
  
I signed my letter that's sealed with a kiss   
  
I sent it off, and just said this   
  
I know exactly what I want this year   
  
Santa can you hear me  
  
"Okay! Okay! I give up, woman! I'll talk. Just stop with the Britney Spears," Wesley begged.  
  
"Good, I knew you'd see it my way," Alyssa said, a thousand watt smile on her face.  
  
"There are times when I wonder how you became the Slayer, you know. Because there are moments when I could attest to the fact that you're evil."  
  
The redhead just glared at him.  
  
"I bloody well rest my case," Wesley muttered. "He's visiting his mother."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
As he looked at the pictures of his parents, Xander could not help but say, "I know you told me that some changes had happened between you two, but this...this..."  
  
"...is amazing?" the pregnant blonde said smugly.  
  
"Try miraculous," the young man said to his mother. "But that still doesn't explain why he didn't show up at Graduation."  
  
"He didn't think that you'd want him to be there," she said simply.  
  
"Huh, you got a point. I'd doubt he'd want to be around, when I proved him wrong by finishing high school."  
  
"It's not like that," his mother said to him, trying to get the 18-year-old to understand.  
  
"Then what is it? He may be my dad, but he sure didn't act like it. Him telling me that I was his biggest mistake, or that the two of you were happier before I came into the picture, still rings a bell in my mind."  
  
Ariel sighed, before speaking. "Which is why he didn't want to show up on your big day. It wasn't because you proved him wrong that he wants to avoid you. It's because of the shame. He's ashamed of you seeing him after what he said to you. That's why he was reluctant towards me having your sister, Alexander. He doesn't want to put her through what you had to endure. Look, he's real sorry for how he was to you sweetie, but consider what he had to go through..."  
  
"Yeah, Jack Daniel's is one tough customer to fight. The bottle is one tough cookie," Xander said cynically.  
  
"Alexander," the half-demon said in a stern voice.  
  
"What? Do you even know what he'd do, while you were busting yourself to make ends meet?"  
  
"Nowadays yes I do, and I also know about him asking your girlfriend what she charged for each trick. But the point is, do you know what kind of a person he was before you and I came into his life?"  
  
Xander opened his mouth to speak, but immediately closed it. He knew nothing about his father's past.  
  
"I see I have your attention now," the blonde woman said. "Honey, believe it or not, your father was never the 'tough guy' that you think he is. We first met at Berkley, and let me tell you Alex; 'dateless loser' is how he was described. But what no one knew about him was that he was also a *rich* dateless loser."  
  
"Oh, now I've heard everything! It's not that I don't believe you Mom, but if he's rich - then why aren't we living in a mansion or whatever? And why is Uncle Rory not with a new bimbo every week, rather than those whores?"  
  
"Because of me, and because of you. The day I first met him, I was being harassed by a group of guys who just wouldn't take no for an answer. I asked them to leave me alone, but they persisted. "We know you want us, honey..." is what they said over and over..."  
  
A sigh. "Then your father came over and told them to leave me alone. They didn't like that, and your father became my first test patient, so to speak," the blonde woman said as she fondly remembered that day when her husband 'rescued' her.  
  
Ariel went on, "We started dating after that, and that's where your other grandfather comes into the picture. Simply put, he didn't like it that his son dating a Kraut with Communist ties."  
  
Looking at his mom, Xander was about to say something when Ariel said first, "His words, not mine."  
  
"I had no idea being of Russian and German descent was a crime," Xander said, thinking of what little he knew about his paternal grandfather.  
  
Ariel sighed again. "Of course, one thing led to another - and before you knew it, we were going to have you. Both of your grandfathers weren't thrilled about what we had done; but for some reason, your Grandpa Scott thought this was all a plan to con him out of his fortune. So he told Robert he had to choose - it was either him, or me."  
  
"So he gave everything up for you?" Xander whispered. "Why didn't I know about this?" Then the boy forgot about that and asked, "What happened to him - and you?"  
  
"Well, his family blacklisted him. Made sure he couldn't find any way of supporting us. Robert couldn't pay for his tuition any longer, so he had to drop out of college..."  
  
"Which explains the drinking. Mom, look - say you're right, that he was a good guy back then and he's trying to be that guy again now. I still went through a lot of crap outside of this house most of my life, and I needed my father then! Not now, when he feels like it! Am I supposed to just sweep everything under the rug, act like I'm part of one big happy family as if none of that ever happened? He cared more about his next beer, than talking to me about any of this!" Xander said, trying not to shout.  
  
"Alexander, we can't dwell in the past forever. We all have things that we wish we could undo, but most things we can never take back, or live over. But he has been trying so hard to become his old self again. To become the man that I fell in love with, and the man who took his baby boy to the park and the beach any chance he got. I know you can't just forget it all in one night, but please give him a chance at least. I sat with him through all of the AA meetings - and his withdrawal from the bottle, as you call it, was not easy on either of us. But he did it. Your Aunt Lory is also helping me keep an eye on him, to keep him off the sauce."  
  
"She knew he'd slip off the wagon," Xander muttered. His aunt had never liked his father.  
  
"No, Alexander. He asked for her help to watch him because Robert still has trouble trusting himself, even though he hasn't had anything stronger than lemon-twist Coke in ten months."  
  
"Who woulda thunk it? The old man finally beat the bottle. So what else happened-" Xander started to say, before he was interrupted by the front door opening and his Uncle Rory and Aunt Lory entering while they were making out.  
  
"Great googly-moogly, Uncle Rory! Whatcha doing?" Xander yelled at the top of his voice, completely shocked at the sight of his father's brother playing tonsil hockey with his mother's sister.  
  
His uncle pried his lips away from his aunt, and recognized who the boy was. "How's it going, kid!!" he yelled back.  
  
"Alex, oh my God, you've come back home!!" his Aunt Lory added, disengaging herself and going over to hug her nephew. "At last!!!"  
  
His uncle came over, and hugged Xander too. "How you been, boy?"   
  
The former Scooby member was still totally freaked. "Not as good as you two, is what I'm thinkin'..."  
  
The two adults blushed, and quickly excused themselves. Xander turned to his mother, when they were alone, "Okay, unless I just took a trip into an alternate universe, what the hell was that?"  
  
Ariel Harris frowned at her son. "Alexander..."  
  
The teenager threw his arms up. "Sorry, sorry! And for the record, I know all about the birds and the bees thing. Have known since I was thirteen. But seriously, when did 'they' happen?"  
  
"Her first day on the job. About a month after you left, she told me she was getting a job here as the new Deputy DA. And her first case was..."  
  
"Uncle Rory's latest DUI."  
  
"Correct. Neither of them have any idea that they're also in-laws. Anyway as she's prosecuting him, he starts hitting on her."  
  
"Uh-oh. Instant trouble brewing..."  
  
"You have no idea. She just lost it and slapped him. She also got his license revoked. So he heads over here. Not even noon yet, of course your father and me are a little busy renovating the Magic Shop we just bought so he lets himself in. Did us all a favor by drinking your father's stash for guests, but now he's drowsy so he goes to the guestroom. Fast-forward some odd hours, and your aunt arrives, totally exhausted. Goes to her room - which happens to be the guestroom - too tired to turn on the lights, and you know how your aunt usually sleeps?"  
  
"Oh yeah, I found that out the hard way when I was ten."   
  
"Yes, well. Anyway, so your aunt gets in bed. And as soon as she lies down, she feels an arm on her chest...and starts screaming bloody murder! Had your father and me in a big panic, and you can imagine what we saw..."  
  
"Uncle Rory half-drunk and half-asleep on the floor with Aunt Lory wearing just a pair of panties and beating the crap out of him while trying to cover herself up?"  
  
Ariel smiled. "I'm sure it'll be an interesting story to tell your own children, one day..."  
  
Xander felt something tighten in his chest. "I don't think so, Mom."  
  
The half-demon frowned in confusion, so the teenager clarified, "There's only one woman I want to have kids with. And that can't happen now, because she's a va-" Xander quickly shut himself up.  
  
"A what, dear?" Ariel asked carefully.  
  
"She's dead, Mom. Cordelia died over a year ago. And if I haven't gotten over her by now, odds are I never will..." The boy then excused himself, and by instinct went off to his old room.  
  
Ariel frowned again. 'Something'll have to be done about all this,' she thought to herself slowly, but her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the telephone ringing. The expectant mother to be made her way to the phone and picked it.  
  
"Hello....No Dad I'm can't sneak you some chocolate fudge ice-cream…..Yes I remember the time when I was twelve and you bought me that spell book that mom didn't want me to have but your diet...."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"So other then Sunday, nothing real serious was encountered?"  
  
Wesley was talking to the redheaded Slayer, trying to get himself back up to speed on what had been happening while he'd been away. However, it was Alyssa that seemed the one more determined to get information. "Nope, aside from the usual 'grrr' attacks during patrol that's about it. How was the 'important assignment'? Everything go okay?"  
  
"Except for Alex's 'direction sense' yes everything went quite well." 'Especially when Lilah gave me her phone number scented with perfume' the Watcher thought, grinning.  
  
"So other then the sightseeing, nothing eventful happened?" Alyssa asked carefully.   
  
"Correct," Wesley said, fidgeting. He was thinking about the business with Wolfram & Hart, but Alyssa had something else on her mind.  
  
"What about Cordelia?"  
  
Wesley shrugged. "She's doing fine, fighting the good fight and all that from what little I saw. Ah, it seems though that Ms. Summers is waiting for the day that she loses her soul."  
  
"Why would she want that?" the Chosen One asked in confusion.  
  
"Because then it would give her an excuse to stake the vampiress, and therefore hurt Alex - even though she has no idea he's right here under her very nose, as they say."  
  
"He still cares about his former girlfriend that much, huh?" the Jewish Slayer responded, half-disappointed, slightly lowering her head.  
  
"Oh yes," the Watcher said simply, noticing and understanding the look on the girl's face. But quickly he added; "However, they parted company as friends."  
  
Alyssa's head quickly rose, on hearing that from Wesley.  
  
"Both of them agreed that it was better to become distant friends, than pursue something that would be, er…unhealthy for themselves and others, regardless of how much they both wanted it," the man who had slept with Lilah Morgan finished up.  
  
The Brit then noticed that the redhead was smiling. 'How could that boy possibly be so dense?' he wondered absently, regarding his two friends.  
  
Authors Note: Still more where this came from. A lot more. I would also like to thank my two partners in that they helped me out in writting this fic. (My Beta Reader and the High Priest of C/Xness) 


	29. Pests and Rings and Beer OH MY!

From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman  
  
September 13, 1999  
  
Things have been relatively quiet on the Hellmouth, as of late. A battle of medium proportions occurred last night however, as both of the Slayers encountered the vampiress called Sunday.  
  
Following the report of Ms. Friedman, I have looked into the background of this particular soulless demon; apparently, she is not a Master vampire, and has been around for approximately 20 years. And after finding and collating all the relevant information, I must admit to being rather unimpressed with Ms. Summers' performance, who as the senior Slayer undertook battle with Sunday while Ms. Friedman fought her minions.  
  
According to Ms. Summers' statements, which I have learned about second-hand, she does not need any help from myself, or my other charge Ms. Friedman, in eliminating Sunday. In short, she said that we have no idea what we are dealing with here, and that Chicago is nothing like the Hellmouth.  
  
There is perhaps some grain of truth to her claim. This, however, does not change the fact that Sunday is still active and at large after said battle. Moreover, I must state that I find it rather odd that Ms. Summers' reason for not wanting our help is that, in her own words, she has 'a lot of experience in dealing with the forces of evil'. I cannot disagree there, however her experience was obviously insufficient against her current opponent.  
  
Normally, I would institute a refresher combat course for my charges; however, since Ms. Summers is still refusing to recognize my authority, I have decided to refer the matter to her previous Watcher, Mr. Rupert Giles, and let him deal with her hostility to the idea.  
  
If there is one good thing that has come out of this encounter, it is the wisdom of learning never to underestimate your enemies. Hopefully, both my Slayers will heed this lesson and not let overconfidence be their downfall.  
  
On another topic, Ms. Summers is still being rather obstinate about the matter of the authority of the Council, as well as her reaction to various 'progress reports' concerning my recent 'mission' to Los Angeles. To put not too fine a point on it, Ms. Summers has, in layman's terms, "cut me out of the loop" because of those so-called 'progress reports' I sent her.  
  
It must also be noted that following my return from said 'mission', Mr. Giles warned her that assault and battery by a person of legal age does have a tendency to result in a hefty lawsuit, especially when pain and suffering is involved. She responded by gloating directly into my face about my current status of "Watcher without a Slayer", apparently ignoring Ms. Friedman's presence.  
  
Well I must admit that I actually feel quite apathetic about the entire matter. Regardless if I have one, two, or even five Slayers under my care (even if such a ridiculous thing were possible) I am still getting paid the same. Still, I have my duties to perform and thus will continue to do so to the best of my ability.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman  
  
September 14, 1999  
  
It has been another interesting day in Sunnydale. Given recent events, I was afraid that my old friend Alexander Harris would not live to see another dawn, once Ms. Friedman learned his whereabouts.  
  
Of course, given Ms. Friedman's growing love for the young man (which I suspect he will never even notice, as long as she remains quiet on the matter), she could not stay mad at Mr. Harris for long. In addition, the first anniversary gifts we bought for her also played a rather vital part in our avoidance of the local hospitals.  
  
In recognition of surviving as a Slayer for a year, both Mr. Harris and myself gave Ms. Friedman a silver necklace bearing the Star of David, as well as a set of steel punch daggers that we had blessed by a local rabbi. A gift both practical, and from the heart.  
  
The look in her eyes alone was enough to tell us, that we were not going to spend some time in the ICU. Of course, the first thing Ms. Friedman wished to do was try out her new gifts...  
  
And it was quite obvious to Mr. Harris and myself who she meant to try them out on.  
  
Working together, the three of us were able to pinpoint the location of the nest of the vampiress Sunday, which was in a condemned UC Sunnydale fraternity house. From there Mr. Harris and myself went to work in creating a few Molotov cocktails, which we used to turn the nest into an inferno once the three of us were in position to prevent escape of said vampires.   
  
The end result was Ms. Friedman destroying three vampires, including Sunday herself. Mr. Harris and myself managed to eliminate three of her minions as well, before we finished mopping-up operations and then went home for the night.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman  
  
September 28, 1999  
  
A most remarkable sequence of events happened today. For almost the entire day Mr. Giles, Ms. Friedman, Ms. Summers' friends and myself were under the impression that the blonde Slayer in question had effectively "lost it", to use one of the local colloquialisms, due in part to her roommate - a UC Sunnydale student named "Kathy Newman".  
  
Ms. Newman, upon first impressions a very cheerful individual, was someone that according to Ms. Summers could be defined as 'the roommate from Hell'. I had only met with her once, yet my conclusions were (and they were not conflicting amongst others of the group) that Ms. Summers was incorrect in her analysis that Kathy was "evil".  
  
Of course, that did not stop the senior Slayer from trying to bring about Ms. Newman's untimely demise.  
  
From what I was told by Mr. Giles - someone who, for the record, has a collection of books and memorabilia that is proving invaluable for the cause - the Slayerettes, as Ms. Summers' friends now call themselves, lured the impulsive Slayer into his home, where they managed to restrain her.  
  
That done, Amy Madison and Willow Rosenberg - who are both witches, with the latter being Ms. Friedman's cousin - went to seek a means of undoing what they believed to be some form of demonic possession on the blonde Slayer.   
  
However, in a remarkable display of Slayer strength, Ms. Summers escaped and went to confront Ms. Newman. It was at this point that Mr. Giles, myself, and two others named Daniel Osborne and Percy West discovered that "Kathy Newman" was in fact a Mok'tagar demon, and had been sucking Ms. Summers' soul into herself.  
  
After completing a ritual to undo what the demoness had done, I dispatched Ms. Friedman to Ms. Summers' dorm, to determine what the situation was. Ms. Rosenberg and Ms. Madison were there, and informed her - who subsequently informed me - that a battle had taken place; however, it had ended in a stalemate, as the entity known as "Tapparich" arrived on the battleground and took the female Mok'tagar demon away through an interdimensional portal.  
  
The potential catastrophe of a soulless Slayer running amok having been averted, I must recommend for my successors more stringent safeguards be placed against something like this ever happening again, in the future.  
  
On a lighter note, I have learned that Ms. Summers and Ms. Rosenberg intend to move in together in the UC Sunnydale dormitories. This is a course of action I approve of, as it will enable watch to be kept on Ms. Summers in case any unforeseen side effects from the rituals have occurred as well as continue to keep the identity of the Slayer secret from others.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman  
  
October 3, 1999  
  
Some unfortunate developments occurred today. Through our own carelessness, Alexander Harris has not only been discovered to be back in Sunnydale, but also the location of where he is staying has been determined by Ms. Summers' and Ms. Chase's younger sisters, Dawn and Chloe.  
  
It all started with our separate patrol, in an area where Ms. Summers has been recently neglecting due to a dearth of supernatural activity. While Ms. Friedman was busy studying for a test she would have the next day, we had to luck to come across a Maelstrom demon.  
  
As both Mr. Harris and myself knew that we would not fare well in a frontal assault against the creature, we bided our time, following it back to its lair in the sewers. Losing at a game of 'paper, rock, scissors' Alex acted as bait, and lured the demon into an open section in the sewers where he made sure that he would be trapped between the demon and wall.  
  
As the Maelstrom demon drew closer upon him, my companion drew out his mace and began to swing it over his head. The demon subsequently raised up his arm, which began to crackle with the static of electricity...when I pounced on it from above, plunging my falchion up to its hilt into the fiend's back.  
  
In obvious pain the demon managed to shake me off, but this gave Alex enough time to crush the Maelstrom's head in with his mace, causing the demon's body to quickly immolate, leaving behind only black charred bone and dust.  
  
It was at this point that we made our way back to the apartment, where to our surprise Ms. Friedman was waiting for us with Ms. Dawn Summers and Ms. Chloe Chase.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Hi Xander," the youngest Summers girl said, grinning nervously, while her best friend just waved at Xander saying, "Nice of you to come back, Xand-man!"  
  
"What happened?" Wesley instantly asked his Slayer, his eyes riveted on the young girls.  
  
"I caught them following me, while I was heading back from our training center to my dorm to study for tomorrow," the younger Slayer stated with a shrug. "Turns out that, uh, they've been following me ever since you guys were in LA."  
  
"Which means you guys have another problem," Dawn said with an evil smile.  
  
"And what would that be?" the Watcher said.  
  
"How to explain my disappearances to my sister, while I'm out patrolling with you guys."  
  
"Say what?" a confused Xander demanded.  
  
"I guess we could try not telling her, and hope she just doesn't notice. Well, then, do we show up here or do we join up with you guys somewhere else to patrol?" the younger Chase sister said with enthusiasm.  
  
"Hold on a second, you two. In fact, come to a screeching halt! Chloe, Dawn, you two are not gonna patrol with us. The last thing I need is a visit from two certain angry older sisters, and my two friends here spending a month collecting my remains off the floor!!" Xander said angrily.   
  
"Oh, come on! We'll be good, right Chloe?" Dawn said, switching tactics and giving her old crush the best Summers pout she could.  
  
"Let me think about that idea. Hmm, uh, no!" Wesley said, with finality.  
  
Smiling as she got up, Dawn walked towards Xander while saying, "Well, that's okay..." She then reached out and grabbed Xander's hand. "Xander, come with me," the young girl said firmly, as she began to lead him away.  
  
"Dawn, what are you doing?" Alyssa said in confusion.  
  
"What does it look like I'm doing? Since I can't go on patrol, I'm taking Xander to his room - where I can have my wicked wanton schoolgirl way with him."  
  
"Y-y-y-you're going to WHAT!!!" the redheaded Slayer said in disbelief.  
  
"You can't be serious?! You're barely thirteen years old, if that!" Wesley stammered, shaken with the notion.  
  
The older Slayer's sister just smiled. "Look, it's real simple the way I see it, and for your information I'm going to be fourteen in two months. The both of us are tired of being on the sidelines! We wanna help, and don't give us that 'you can help by staying away' speech, 'cause that's not gonna cut it anymore. The three of you don't want Buffy to find out Xander's back in town - fine. So either we help you guys, maybe even get some patrols in, or I'll force the big lug here into making me into a real woman!"  
  
Alyssa shook her head in disbelief at Dawn's audacity. The idea of Dawn and her Alex alone in his bedroom...  
  
"Oh, I get to watch, right?" Chloe said, grinning. "Especially that fire pole dance, with you in a thong?"   
  
"Sure," Dawn shrugged, trying to keep a straight face. She didn't own any thongs. As a matter of fact, her mom would kill her if she bought one. "Hopefully, Xander won't mind..."  
  
"Young lady, this is outrageous! Does your mother know about this? I mean, where-where did you get such ideas?" Wesley admonished her with that famed British stiff upper lip.  
  
"Hey, my big sis Cordy used to tease Xander like that all the time..." Chloe said off-handedly.  
  
"Chloe? Don't go there," Xander said with a scowl, and the young girl instantly shut up in embarrassment. The man then turned to Wesley, "Hey, Wes? Since I'm guaranteed to die within the next few days one way or the other, I'd like for my remains to be cremated. And please, tell my mom and Cordelia that I love them... "  
  
"The hell with it," Chloe said with a grin. "You're dead either way, so why not with the both of us? Do you two think you can give us some privacy?" the girl turned around, facing the Slayer and her Watcher. "We might need the whole apartment. Say, you think the kitchen table is stronger then it looks?"  
  
Alyssa's eyes narrowed with jealousy, a look that Wesley noticed as did Dawn and Chloe. 'This is going to be even worse than Roswell,' Wesley thought with a mental sigh.   
  
'I have to admit, right now I wouldn't put it past Alyssa to throw both Dawn and Chloe out the window - and we're on the second floor! God help us, but I'd hate to be you right now, Alex,' the Watcher thought, smiling at his friend's predicament. The British man then sighed, and although he knew he was practically signing his own death warrant, he said, "Very well. In return for your silence on this matter, you can help us with the Slayage activities..."  
  
The two kids looked very excited, but Wes wasn't finished. "But when we tell you to back off, you back off. This isn't a game! None of us here have any desire to see the mangled corpses of you two children, anytime soon..."  
  
Again the duo nodded, the excitement now fading from their faces. "For now, you can assist with the researching. That means coming here after school, so no more going to the local ice cream shop or movies or whatever. Plus, no patrolling until you're older or when I judge you're ready, or you can bloody well tell Buffy everything. Clear?" Wesley's face now held no sympathy, as he looked at the young women.  
  
Dawn and Chloe just looked at each other, suddenly wondering what they had REALLY gotten themselves into.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Thus, in summary, the three of us have taken it upon ourselves to start teaching the "Brat Pack" as we call them, at least the rudiments of demon lore and how to defend themselves. Rather than involve them in combat per se, Alex, Ms. Friedman and I have decided to instruct the two in the use of range weapons, preferably the bow and arrow or the crossbow.  
  
  
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the ex-officio Diaries of Rupert Giles, former Watcher to the Slayer Buffy Summers,  
  
October 7, 1999  
  
Once again, there is trouble brewing on the Hellmouth. The Master vampire William the Bloody, a.k.a. Spike has returned to Sunnydale. And for what ultimate nefarious purpose, currently we have no idea.  
  
But no matter what his reasons, it nevertheless bodes ill for the guardians of truth, order and justice, as it were.  
  
According to my information, Buffy first became aware of Spike's return at a UC Sunnydale fraternity party that she attended - one which in fact her Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, suggested that she not attend. In my opinion the man meant well, and has been doing the best job possible under the circumstances...  
  
But God help us all, Wesley should have understood by now that his encouragement for Buffy to go on patrol would have produced exactly the opposite results than what he'd intended!  
  
In any event, it was at the party where my former Slayer encountered Spike. The usual "I'll kill you's" were exchanged between the two of them, before he and a vampiress named Nancy Doyle escaped from Buffy and her date, a student by the name of Parker Abrams.  
  
Both Buffy and especially Alyssa Friedman, the Slayer called after Kendra's death previously alluded to in these journals, were fully aware of the significant danger that Spike posed - but everyone was completely unprepared, for what happened next.  
  
When Spike was next encountered it was, to my astonishment after hearing it from Buffy, during the daytime - and whilst he was standing in direct sunlight.  
  
The infernal creature ambushed my former charge, following some sort of heartbreaking conversation with that Parker Abrams fellow. But it was during this confrontation, that William the Bloody made the fatal mistake of revealing how he was able to walk in the sunlight without turning into an inferno.  
  
Somehow, Spike had acquired the Gem of Amara.  
  
For those reading these diaries and ignorant of its nature, as mentioned in the book "Hell's Offspring" the Gem is the vampiric equivalent of the Holy Grail. It is an artifact that protects the vampire that wears it from every single thing that could possibly harm one of the undead - sunlight, fire, crucifixes, decapitation, holy water, and stakes through the heart.  
  
Getting back to the battle - even though he was virtually unkillable thanks to the Gem, it is to my great pride and satisfaction that I record Buffy was in fact able to hold her own against Spike. And, it was to Buffy's fortune that Alyssa was also on campus...  
  
Apparently, Spike was as yet unaware of Alyssa's presence on the Hellmouth; and so between the two Slayers, they were finally able to drive the undead villain away, whilst not before the younger Chosen One was able to wrestle the Gem of Amara from his finger.  
  
As an aside, Alyssa has turned the Gem over to Wesley, who in turn is going to send to the Council's headquarters in England - where it will be no doubt well guarded, and examined. Even though I, for one, would prefer it to be destroyed - rather than risk catastrophe by it falling into the wrong hands again.  
  
But the one thing that intrigues me the most is Alyssa herself. Her fighting style contains elements that could not have been taught to her by Council, but as recent events have shown Wesley is not going by the book. Perhaps he is experimenting?   
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman  
  
October 9, 1999  
  
It seems that recent events are about to come to a head. To be perfectly honest, I don't know what truly possessed me to do what I am about to do, but nonetheless - I am going to do it.  
  
Alex has convinced me to send the recently acquired Gem of Amara to Cordelia Chase, our ensouled vampire acquaintance. And although strategically the plan does make sense in that our interests would be best served having the artifact in the hands of a vampiress actually on our side, what has me worried is what could happen - if the woman ever loses her soul...  
  
However, Alex is quite correct when stating that he is the key to defeating the soulless version of Ms. Chase, just as he is also the key to her release. Thus it is with heavy and troubled hearts that Alyssa and I have entrusted one of her classmates to deliver the Gem of Amara to her by giving it to Harmony. The classmate leaves for Los Angeles tomorrow to visit a relative.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman  
  
November 1, 1999  
  
It has been almost two months since Ms. Friedman, Mr. Harris and myself arrived here in Sunnydale. And for the record, I must say apparently the surprises never cease to stop coming. Chicago was never like this!  
  
Yesterday was All Hallow's Eve, and in what I'm coming to anticipate as true Hellmouth fashion, a number of weird occurrences took place.   
  
To wit, there was a Halloween party at the UC Sunnydale Alpha Delta fraternity house, where Daniel Osborne's services were required as a musician; and somehow, one of the organizers carried out some sort of demon-raising ritual, as a semi-serious party stunt.  
  
In any event, the results included a haunted house that for a short time became the headquarters of Gachnar, the fear demon. It is my understanding that a friend of 'Oz' (as Mr. Osborne prefers to be called) inscribed a pictogram onto the floorboards of the fraternity to add 'flavor' to their intended 'haunted house', as I mentioned above in this journal entry; and that said pictogram was activated, by a random drop of blood.  
  
It makes one wonder what on Earth the students are being taught in this country...  
  
In any event, the repercussions were rather serious. All those present were confronted with their worst fears, after they were trapped inside the fraternity; Ms. Summers, for example, fought a manifestation of Angelus, the now-deceased soulless vampire - who attempted to kill and turn her.  
  
Ms. Rosenberg lost control of her Wicca magicks, and almost killed herself with a spell.  
  
Ms. Madison was confronted by her mother, who attempted to turn her into a rat.  
  
Mr. West was attacked by a mob of women, who tried to break both his legs and ruin his sports career.  
  
Mr. Osborne almost changed into a werewolf, despite the lunar cycle not being appropriate for such a thing to happen at this time.  
  
But it was Ms. Friedman who suffered perhaps the most horrifying version of all these episodes; she saw Mr. Harris and his former paramour, the vampiric Ms. Chase, engaging in sexual activity - before Cordelia turned the man into a vampire, and they both attempted to murder her.  
  
Fortunately Alex, who in a fit of melancholy had decided to shadow Ms. Friedman as well as take a break from training the "Brat Pack," alerted me as to what was happening; thus, Mr. Giles and I arrived on the scene, and broke our way in with his chainsaw.  
  
The rest of the evening was almost anti-climatic; Gachnar was accidentally manifested due to Ms. Summers' actions, and as he was only approximately one or two inches tall, Ms. Friedman immediately stomped down upon him with her boot and eliminated the demon.  
  
I must admit, Alex and I had quite a laugh about it later...  
  
And on a side note, the costumes were also most innovative.  
  
The reasons were as follows; from what the previous Watcher Rupert Giles has recorded, a former friend of his, a chap by the name of Ethan Rayne once cast a spell that caused people that wore costumes they had bought from his store to become that persona. Thus in case it happened again, this time everyone wanted to be prepared.  
  
Ms. Rosenberg dressed up in chain mail to portray Joan of Arc, complete with a sword. Mr. Osborne placed a nametag on his shirt, labeled "GOD". Ms. Madison was dressed as a seductive police officer while her boyfriend, Mr. West, carried a whip, a leather jacket and a hat with him to portray Indiana Jones.  
  
However, it was the costumes of the Slayers that created an unwanted amount of tension.   
  
Ms. Summers went as a "traditional" version of Little Red Riding Hood, while Ms. Friedman dressed herself in a "sultry" version of the costume -one complete with mini-skirt, gloves and boots.  
  
According to my later interview with Mr. Osborne, the dirty looks that Ms. Summers gave to Ms. Friedman would have killed the woman, were it possible. But Ms. Friedman's mind was no doubt on other things; primarily on Alex noticing her, whom I suspect was the main reason behind that costume, whose attention it did grab in that he was not able to stop ogling her.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman  
  
November 4, 1999  
  
In a somewhat interesting development, it is my duty to record that the "Brat Pack's" first patrol met with success. With Alex and Alyssa holding the front line, so to speak, Dawn and Chloe finally got their wish and served as support troops by firing arrows at a pack of vampires.  
  
Of course, there were a rather large amount of near misses on their behalf, but luckily no one on our side was hurt. Still, this means that the "Brat Pack" is definitely going to be spending more time on target practice...  
  
In addition to the "Brat Pack's" first patrol, another strange thing happened with both of the Slayers that Fate has placed into my charge. Trusting that Alex would be able to handle things, I left him in charge of Alyssa (but not Ms. Summers, for obvious reasons), while I went to Los Angeles on important business regarding a lawyer who was in need of my special skills.   
  
During my trip there, Ms. Summers was apparently heartbroken after her brief relationship with Parker Abrams ended badly. So much so that she attempted to drown her sorrows in alcohol - which she did rather heavily, from what I was told.  
  
Fortunately, a Slayer's metabolism is such that she promptly overcame the effects in due course. During our meeting, she seemed to have a slight headache, but nothing worse. Her friend Ms. Rosenberg was also there; and I must say, the young witch seemed to be upset about something having to do with her boyfriend Oz.  
  
However, that is none of my affair. The next day though, I gather, Ms. Summers rejoined the same group of drinkers, and once again imbibed to her heart's content - and rather heavily, at that.  
  
After hearing about what she was doing from her cousin, Ms. Friedman went to talk with her fellow Slayer; only to end up drinking a small amount of beer as well. No more than one to two glasses, apparently...  
  
Of course, the situation that later took effect - the beer had been mystically cursed by the owner of the establishment, and turned all who drank that particular brand into prehistoric cavemen - certainly proceeded to cause no small amount of chaos.  
  
The "Brat Pack" had informed Mr. and Mrs. Giles on what was happening, and they were just as incredulous as the children that our Slayers had gone on a drinking binge. And at that point the cavemen, minus Ms. Friedman and Ms. Summers, burst into some sort of locale where Ms. Rosenberg was castigating that Parker Abrams fellow, and took them both 'hostages'.  
  
The cave-Slayers, by chance, had gone back to Ms. Friedman's dorm – where by any definition trouble was brewing. As Alex was there, looking for his best friend.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Cave-Buffy came into the residence Alyssa shared with Amy, her blonde hair in complete disarray and her face dirty, sniffing the air curiously. "Parker bad," she grunted.  
  
Cave-Alyssa looked almost as far gone as her companion, as she too then sniffed the air and looked around. "Beer good," the redhead grunted back.  
  
Cave-Buffy wasn't interested. "Want people. Where people go?"  
  
And it was at this point Xander Harris came out of Alyssa's room, and froze when he saw the two new arrivals. 'Oh, shit...' the teenager thought. 'That's it, now I'm busted! Buffy's gonna try and kill me, at last...'  
  
But all Cave-Buffy did was leap upon him almost instantly, taking big sniffs. "Boy smells nice..." Possibly, she was smelling Xander's demon genes; material that pulled like a magnet to the Slayer power, that was rooted in darkness. Then the woman started purring, "Boy mine..."  
  
Cave-Alyssa's face turned feral and ugly, as she jumped into the fray. Xander got pushed aside like a sack of potatoes, and a cat-fight began amongst the cave-Slayers. "No! Boy mine!" the junior Chosen One yelled.  
  
"Buffy strong!" the blonde shouted, as she backhanded her opponent away. "Want beer!" And so saying, she stormed out of the dorm, in search of her beverage.  
  
Xander was somewhat surprised, but then he realized his first priority was Alyssa. As the guy helped the young freshman up off the floor, he was shocked - and scared - to see his friend start purring as well at the sight of him.  
  
"Boy smell nice. Boy feel nice. Boy MINE!"  
  
"Lys?" Xander Harris asked slowly, backing away. "Alyssa? You okay there?"  
  
Cave-Alyssa then followed her target around for a while, and eventually cornered Xander in the apartment. "Girl want boy," the woman grunted, in that charming Neanderthal way.  
  
"Nice cave-Slayer, nice cave-Slayer..." Xander was getting desperate; and just when it looked like Alyssa was about to jump him (in order to kill him, as far as he was concerned, but to anyone else it was obviously a case of extreme naked lust), the former Slayerette had a revelation on what to do.  
  
"Gotta love the fuzzy bikini..." he muttered to himself, as Xander remembered a scene from one of his favorite movies and withdrew a mini-lighter - one that had been a souvenir from Wesley. Quickly igniting it and setting his own shirtsleeve on fire, Xander yelled out, "FIRE ANGRY!!" while waving his arm in her face.  
  
Cave-Alyssa instantly withdrew in fear and consternation, and then Xander quickly beat out the flames on his arm. Maneuvering his body around, the former class clown then positioned himself such that when the de-evolved woman again charged towards him - he merely stepped aside, to let her smash into the wall and fall to the floor, seemingly unconscious.  
  
Xander groaned, as he held his arm and looked at his friend. "I'm telling ya, Lys, I bet we're BOTH gonna regret this in the morning..." he muttered, looking away - when the Hellmouth, continuing in its ever predictable way for the unpredictable, stepped in.  
  
The redhead got up from the floor and slugged him, making everything go black...  
  
~*~*~*  
  
As he slowly regained consciousness, the first thing that Xander became aware of was the weight that was on top of him. Opening his eyes, Xander recognized the surroundings and realized that he was in his apartment – or more precisely, his room when he felt the weight on his chest ease a little.  
  
Shifting his head up, the young man then came face to face with Alyssa - who was apparently still in her cave-Slayer state of mind.  
  
However, the fact that Alyssa was still in One Million B.C. wasn't as unsettling as what she was doing; or to be more technical, trying to do. Xander's mind fought to stay out of shutdown mode as he saw Alyssa trying to undo the clasp of her bra, when he noticed that he was clad just in his boxers.  
  
"Lys!?!? What are you doing?!?!" a frantic Xander said as he saw how athletic the Slayer's half naked body was.  
  
"Boy love Girl," the primitive Alyssa said, before she leaned down and kissed him. Which grew into a deeper kiss, as he then felt her tongue in his mouth.  
  
Of course, all this resulted in causing Xander to go into ultra-extreme panic. So he tried with all his might to shove the athletic girl off of him, as the image of a very angry Slayer (with a temper that rivaled his Aunt Lory's) later killing him for taking advantage of her quickly came into his head. And never mind, that it was the other way around...  
  
Of course, that only excited Alyssa - and in a childlike manner, she started to jump up with him when Xander managed to dislodge her from on top of him. However, the cave-Slayer was not going to let her chosen mate get away that easily, and she tried to sit back on top of him.  
  
This then resulted in the two of them rolling around on his bed, until they both fell off of it in a great big tangle of arms and legs.  
  
Groaning, Xander got up and noticed that Alyssa wasn't moving. But to his relief, she was just unconscious again. Gently, the guy picked up the unconscious cave-Slayer and put her into his bed - before he picked up his clothes, and closed the door behind him.  
  
All the while, trying to put out of his mind the fact that he had seen the redheaded girl that was his best friend half-naked.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Fortunately, things did not get completely out of hand. Ms. Summers saved the lives of her friend Ms. Rosenberg and her former beau Parker Abrams, along with a few other people when a fire broke out that night. I suspect that in spite of her physical state, the Slayer instinct to protect people was still strong within her - and she performed her duties admirably, even if she did brain that Parker chap on the head a lot.  
  
Also fortunately, the next day Ms. Summers had no memory of encountering Alex in that dorm room; most likely, it was dismissed as just part of some bizarre revenge fantasy. Ms. Friedman, on the other hand, DID remember some (or as I suspect all) of it due to the relatively small amount of tainted beer she had consumed - and I must say, I had never before seen my charge blush quite that deep shade of red before when we spoke of the night's events.  
  
In any case, I suppose the whole thing can be summarized as just another day here on the Hellmouth.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman  
  
November 8, 1999  
  
As a warning to whoever reads these diaries and doubts their authenticity, I must state that every event I will describe herein is completely accurate. Despite the fact that I am now starting to feel as if I am living in some sort of a twisted soap opera, due to the tension in Mr. Osborne and Ms. Rosenberg's relationship.  
  
It all began with the usual lunar cycle that transforms Mr. Osborne into his Lupin self every month, for three days. To ensure that he commits no wrong while in this state, Mr. Osborne is secured within a cage until the next sunrise. However, during the time of the full moon for this month, he managed to escape from his cage.  
  
And precisely what had happened to him, he kept to himself.  
  
In the end Ms. Rosenberg was apparently introduced to a rude awakening, when she went to check up on Mr. Osborne; and to her astonishment saw not one but two naked bodies, in the werewolf cage. As it turns out, Mr. Osborne had encountered another werewolf, a girl known only as Veruca – and they had entered into sexual relations. And naturally, Ms. Rosenberg did not take this revelation well.  
  
With both Slayers in tow, Mr. Osborne led them in an attempt to either capture or convince Veruca to come with them, so that there would be no chance of her attacking innocents. However, Veruca foresaw the possibility of that happening, so she took the necessary steps to lead them away from her while she concentrated on her true objective, which was killing Ms. Rosenberg to remove the competition for Mr. Osborne's affections.  
  
When they finally realized what had happened, it was almost too late. During the race back to the college campus, Ms. Summers collided with what seemed to be a masked commando, who has an unknown agenda. This is a matter that will have to be looked into, once more information is gathered.  
  
Anyway, by the time Ms. Friedman managed to get caught up with Mr. Osborne, Veruca in her wolf form was already dead and the werewolf form of Mr. Osborne was ready to pounce on Ms. Rosenberg. Luckily, Ms. Friedman was able to shoot Mr. Osborne with the tranquilizer rifle in time, and render him unconscious.  
  
But this story does not have a happy ending. Afraid of what he is capable of - and apparently haunted as well by Veruca's words - the next day, Mr. Osborne reluctantly told Ms. Rosenberg that he was going on a quest to find some way to remove his curse. Or in failing that, live with it in a way that won't put her or anyone else in danger.  
  
Despite her pleas, Mr. Osborne refused to be swayed otherwise. However, before he left the young man swore that he would keep in contact with her, so that despite the fact they will not see each other, they can at least support each other through this hard time.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman  
  
November 18, 1999  
  
Once again, William the Bloody has surfaced. A few moments ago, Ms. Friedman told me of how she and Ms. Summers had rescued Ms. Rosenberg not only from just Spike, but as well as a group of the mysterious commandos - who seemed intent on capturing Ms. Rosenberg as well as Spike, for unknown reasons. During the conflict, Spike managed to escape, as did the commandos.  
  
On the bright side, Alex's grandparents as well as his other relatives from Chicago have arrived here in Sunnydale, in anticipation for the amusing colonial festival of Thanksgiving dinner. In addition, they have invited Ms. Friedman and myself to dine with them - and they said they wouldn't mind if I brought Lilah Morgan along as well, as my date.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
As she slowly regained consciousness, the first thing Alexa Gibson became aware of was that her wings were showing. Alert, she got up onto her feet and saw that she was in a white room. A prison, to be exact.  
  
Across from her was a tall, blonde-haired individual who was pacing back and forth in his cell. 'Hmm, maybe he can tell me what's going on,' the grandmother of Xander Harris thought, as she walked towards the glass wall and put her hands on it, feeling a surge of electricity.  
  
'What in the...is this supposed to hurt me?' the demoness thought humorously to herself. The only thing electricity did at this strength, was tickle her.  
  
'Now how did I get here?' the succubus thought, as she tried to recount earlier events. 'Okay, I 'ported Gene, Davie, Kathy and my new granddaughter with me to the Sunnydale Bus Depot. The girls picked us up. Davie, Kathy, and Renee got settled into the room that Ariel and Robert are getting ready, for my new granddaughter that'll be arriving soon. Pookie and me got in some "exercise"...'  
  
Alexa's memories then cleared up. 'Oh, that's right. I wanted to get some cheese sticks at the local 'Jack in the Box', and two vampires looking for an easy meal accosted me on the way - so I changed into my real shape and mopped them up. Then...I felt electricity surging through me then, something hit me...'  
  
The succubus's train of thought was then broken, as she heard pressurized air. And looking above, she saw that a small panel had opened in the ceiling and a red bag dropped from it.  
  
Looking to the cell across from her, she saw that a similar scene was being played. Bending down, the succubus picked up the bag and inspected it. "Ewww. This is blood," she said in disgust, throwing it against the wall.  
  
"Don't drink it. It's drugged," she heard a voice speak out, but it wasn't directed at her.  
  
The bleached-blonde male figure across from her threw the blood packet down, in frustration. While saying, "Uh-huh. And who are you, mate?"  
  
"I'm a rat. I'm a lab rat, just like the others. They're gonna kill us, you know," she heard the voice say, clearly terrified.  
  
"And how are they gonna do that?" the blonde demanded.  
  
"They starve you," the unknown speaker said. "When you're ready to bite your own arm, they shoot out one of those packets. You drink, and the next thing, you're gone. And that's when they do the experiments."  
  
'Experiments?' the succubus thought in amazement.  
  
"And, uh, they are? The government? Nazis? A major cosmetics company?"  
  
"Who cares?" the voice continued. "All I know is, one minute I'm running from the Slayer - and the next thing, I'm here."  
  
"The Slayer! I knew it! I knew it!" her companion yelled in anger.  
  
'Well, I guess it's obvious that they're vampires,' the succubus then thought cynically.  
  
"Yeah, she took apart my crew, and led me straight to these guys," the other vampire continued.  
  
"She set me up, too. I always worried what would happen when that bitch got some funding!" the vampire with the British accent said, while slamming his hands into the glass wall in frustration. "She's wised up a bit. Fine! I'll take her apart. I don't care how brilliant she is..."  
  
To the succubus's disappointment the rambling continued for around another hour and a quarter, when she heard booted feet walking down the corridor, stopping in front of her cell between her and the blonde vampire.  
  
"So, what do we have here?" a tall, muscularly-built young man said to a woman with short blonde hair and wearing a lab coat.  
  
"It's a new one. Research is trying to figure out what it is. As for what it can do, that's still an unknown," the woman said.  
  
Trying to control her natural instincts towards instantly killing them for calling her "it," the demoness instead began to reach out with her mind into the thoughts of the male.   
  
And in that moment, he was an open book to her as the succubus learned his name was Riley Finn, and that she was being held in the containment area in a place called the Initiative, and that they were capturing demons for study by the U.S. government.  
  
Shifting her attention to the woman next to Finn, Alexa tried to see what she could read from the woman; and the information instantly amused her, in a way.  
  
The woman's name was Maggie Walsh, and she was trying to create weapons from the captured demons to defend against threats to 'national security'. In addition she saw a room labeled 314, before the succubus was brought out of her mind probe by Walsh's question.  
  
"Sorry, what was that?" Alexa said, focusing back on the here and now.  
  
"I asked, what kind of demon are you?" Walsh said, inquisitively.  
  
"Oh, I'm a vampire," Alexa lied with a grin.  
  
"Sure you are," Walsh said, playing along. "But if you're one of the HST's we've been studying for a while, then how come the other vampires don't have wings or how come the electricity didn't affect you?"  
  
"You're the scientist. You tell me."  
  
Walsh and Riley just looked at each other. Didn't this...thing understand the situation that it was now in?  
  
"What can you do?" Walsh asked, moving on.  
  
"What can I do? Well, you know that stuffing that Martha Stewart can make? I have it beat, hands down. I do this little thing with croutons, you see, that my friends say is just great..."  
  
"Keep this up, and you'll be sorry," Walsh began to say, clearly starting to lose what little patience she had.  
  
"Hey, you wanted to know!" the succubus said, trying not to laugh. "And that white lab coat? It looks way too drab, in my opinion. Ever thought of adding in a little color?"  
  
The forty something blonde woman just glared at her.  
  
"All right. If you really want to know, I can - outperform any exotic dancer working a strip joint, or so says my husband...not that I would ever let him go to one of those places, you understand. The fact that the moral fiber of this country is disintegrating can be no excuse for that sort of thing."  
  
The sound of laughing interrupted the pace of the light interrogation; and Professor Walsh and Agent Finn looked behind themselves, seeing the blonde vampire laughing at the demoness's snappy responses.  
  
"That's telling 'em, luv!" the British accent echoed in the cellblock.  
  
"Thank you," Alexa said graciously, before turning back to her jailers. "Come to think of it, there is one thing I forgot to tell you that I can do really well."  
  
"Really, and what would that be?' Walsh asked.  
  
"This..." the immortal grandmother said, as she instantly vanished from the holding cell - due to her ability to teleport anywhere she wanted to go.  
  
Authors Note: If you want me to kill off Spike, please send by Paypal a payment of $5 and a 1 Page Summary as to why Spike must die to the following Email Address.   
  
Suckerthathasbeenhad@aol.com  
  
P.S. This is a cheap attempt to make money.  
  
P.P.S. The Email address is fake.  
  
P.P.P.S. This is all a gag. 


	30. Deja Vu

Wolfram and Hart. November 20, 1999  
  
As a group of monks were chanting, the sacred soil started trembling; and from the white circle on the ground, flames shot up. As they died down a dark, hooded figure with a bronze mask covering its face stepped out of the circle, and past the monks that had summoned him.  
  
The figure quickly made its way to where four lawyers - Lindsey MacDonald, Lilah Morgan, Lee Mercer and Holland Manners - were waiting for him, in front of their office building.  
  
"Welcome to Wolfram & Hart. I hope you had a pleasant journey?" Holland Manners' smooth voice greeted the demon.  
  
The Warrior of the Underworld known as Vocah stopped, then turning around said in a low voice, "Let us dispense with the pleasantries, mortal. We both know this is more than just a social visit..."  
  
The demon seemed to glare at them all behind the mask, then turned around and swept forward majestically. He then entered the law firm's offices, while the four lawyers followed him in. Vocah was subsequently led towards the conference room, where the vampire Russell Winters had been assassinated by the two so-called Tarakan initiates.  
  
"There were two of them?" Vocah inquired, after giving the place a momentary glance.  
  
"Yes. Both were tall and dark-haired," Lindsey stated matter-of-factly, rubbing his still-healing nose.  
  
"Why have these members of the Order of Taraka not yet been identified?" the Warrior of the Underworld then demanded.  
  
Holland held up his hand to correct him, "Ah, strictly speaking – according to the eyewitness reports, they weren't-"   
  
Vocah snarled, "Try not to live down to my expectations, you fool! News of this act has gone further than you think - if they were not yet part of the Order before killing your moron vampire, they surely are now. So answer my question!"  
  
"Under normal circumstances, we already would know everything there is to know about them; but they did something that, ah, has made identifying them all but impossible. We don't even have pictures or video feed of them," Lee said, trying to be helpful.  
  
"You are aware that your excuses will not please the Senior Partners in any way?" Vocah snapped.  
  
"Yes, of that we are well aware," Holland, said neutrally. "But you must understand that this unforeseen situation has come as a great surprise."  
  
"If your information is entirely correct, then you are not the only ones that are surprised. No matter, it will not be long before I find them," Vocah said.  
  
"Will you be requiring any help, from any of us here?" Lilah asked, hoping that he wouldn't - since helping this fashion-victim demon would cut into time she would much rather spend with a certain assistant librarian, who was coming to town to visit her.  
  
Lilah Morgan didn't know why, but there was just something about Wesley that had instantly attracted her to him. Not that she loved him or anything, and she was pretty sure he felt the same way - but there was something there, a connection.  
  
The lawyer didn't even want to think about what might happen, if it eventually became something more than skin-deep sex. Better just to keep it what it was, and enjoy the simple attraction.  
  
'So, what is it about him?' Miss Morgan had once asked herself; after they'd played three rounds of hide-the-salami and her corporate mask had momentarily vanished in the innocent delight of the act.  
  
It could be the fact that the man actually had brains, unlike the other guys in bars that would often hit on her. Or maybe it was the fact that he didn't seem to be the "yes man" type. And finally, the way he'd tried to pick her up had been rather sweet...in a rather twisted way.  
  
But then again, she was one twisted woman, to be working for Wolfram & Hart.  
  
"No. You will do nothing but leave everything to me," Vocah lashed out decisively, before he turned around and left the room.  
  
As he left, Lilah turned to Lindsey, saying, "Well, it looks like they've definitely sent a man to do a man's job. So odds are, things will soon be back to normal around here. But what surprises me is that the Senior Partners haven't made you eat your liver yet, like they did with that Robert Price guy for losing face when you let the Tarakans get away..."  
  
Lindsey just glared at her, and promised himself that one day he would see this bitch dead for saying precisely the wrong thing to him - here and now.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Los Angeles, California. November 21, 1999.   
  
Xander waited patiently, as the bus pulled into the station. He hated going Greyhound for such a short trip, but Wes was in need of the car. 'I have *got* to get Wes to use the Council account, to get Alyssa and me a used car!' the boy thought in exasperation.  
  
He was also thinking of the phone call from Cordelia yesterday morning. She needed his help on a case. Something about needing her dork to help her out with a client today, a very rich client...  
  
So the plan was Xander came on the bus, while Wesley would come down tomorrow night to pick up his girlfriend.  
  
Soon, the young man was tearing along the sidewalk to the park, two blocks down from the bus station. It was fairly empty, as Xander scanned for Harmony. He spotted his former old enemy's car, on the other side of a small playground. But then his heart froze, at what he saw next.  
  
Standing right there, in the direct sunlight, was his first love; the one and only Cordelia Chase. Her hair was down, curled and flowing in the light wind. And she was wearing a light yellow flower print sundress.  
  
It was the dress Xander had bought for her, long ago when they were dating. It wasn't anywhere near designer quality, but Cordelia had worn it regularly back before she'd gotten...  
  
The man couldn't finish the thought.  
  
The brunette woman spotted him as he neared, and quickly gave him one of her old thousand watt smiles that could always light up the darkest of times for him. Xander also noticed she had on his gold heart-shaped locket around her neck; but then, Harmony had told him in an email that she had never seen Cordelia take it off.  
  
"You look incredible. And even more so in the sunlight," Xander told her softly, as they met up. "That Gem really came through, huh? But you didn't have to get all dolled up, just for me..."  
  
"I wanted to," Cordelia said simply, as they hugged. And before she broke the hug, Xander could hear her sniff a little. He knew what she was doing; she was getting a taste of his scent.  
  
"You big dork!" Cordelia said, as she pulled away gently and smacked him on his arm. "I didn't have dress up, huh? But you just had to wear the expensive cologne I bought for you that Christmas?"  
  
Xander let out a tiny laugh. "I only use it for special occasions..."  
  
Cordelia intertwined her hand with his, and they started walking down the park's paved path. To anyone looking, they would have seen just another young couple with the rest of their lives in front of them, without a care in the world.  
  
But the two people holding hands knew it would never be like that ever  
  
again, not for them.  
  
"The cologne doesn't disguise your scent though," Cordy then told him.  
  
"My scent?"  
  
She nodded. "Yeah. Human noses can only pick up the stronger scents; but with my new...abilities; I can like track people in a crowd now, no problem. Yeesh, I finally understand what Oz must feel like..."  
  
"I got my own distinct scent, then?" Xander asked, curious.  
  
"Oh yeah," Cordelia answered him with a grin. "In fact, you're one of a few I can nail from anywhere. Harmony, Doyle, Tara, Giles, Chloe...you. In fact, it's kind of gross, but..." the former cheerleader trailed off, as if she'd thought better of saying what she was going to.  
  
"What?"   
  
Cordy looked at him for a moment, as she tried to make up her mind; then she spoke again, this time softly. "After you were here last time and left...I could smell you...in my apartment. For days. It's weird I know, but I slept better then than I had in a long time, during that short period."  
  
All that the male teenager could think to do was squeeze her hand a little tighter; and then he broke the silence after a few moments. "No problems with the ring then, I take it?" Xander asked in concern, pointing to her other hand.  
  
"No," Cordy replied, as she kissed him on the cheek. "And do I want to know what Buffy thought about me having it?"  
  
The guy flashed her a quick grin. "Who the heck ever said Buffy knows anything about this?" Then he went on, "So, what's this about you needing your dork for a case today?"  
  
They stopped at an empty bench near a large water fountain. "Well, have you ever heard of David Nabbit?" Cordelia asked.  
  
Xander shrugged, "Yeah, sure! He's famous on the D&D circuit. Plus, his company makes a crap-load of latest-generation software computer games! Word is, they have this new one coming out that you can..." he trailed off, as she started grinning at him.   
  
"Like I said, Xander. I need my dork, and it's good to know you haven't changed that much!"  
  
"You'd be surprised how much I've changed, Cordy. Just ask your sister..."  
  
His old squeeze groaned. "I talked to Chloe for two hours on the phone, trying to talk her out of that. But what the hell - I will sleep a hell of a lot better during the day, knowing that YOU are keeping an eye on her. And that her life doesn't depend on Buffy the blond bimbo..."  
  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Cor. And ya know, between us I think that she just wants to stay near Dawn. You should see how tight those two are these days," Xander told her.  
  
Cordy nodded, as she got up and started pulling him up by his hand. "Come on, Dweeb Boy..."  
  
Xander allowed her to drag him to the empty playground, and then the brunette vampiress sat in one of the swings. "Start pushing!" she commanded.   
  
"You want to do some swinging?" the young man asked her, surprised.  
  
Cordelia looked up at him, and he saw the seriousness in her eyes. "Xander, the simple things in life are hard to come by for me these days. I need to do some stupid stuff now and then, or else sometimes I feel like the darkness just keeps creeping inside me, all over my soul..."  
  
Xander patted her on the shoulder, and then went behind her. He grabbed the chains holding her swing and pulled them back, "Okay, but just remember to pump your legs, I can't do all the work here..."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
The Hyperion Hotel  
  
Doyle paced the lobby, full of concern. "It's been a very long time, I'm thinkin' something coulda happened to her..."  
  
Harmony looked up from the computer screen she and Tara were staring at. "Doyle, will you calm down? I don't think she's in any danger from Xander!"  
  
The Irishman shook his head. "Well, excuse me Princess, for bein' a tad worried. But she manages to find trouble quite easily, and ya can't tell me any different..."  
  
Harmony's reply was cut off, as Xander and Cordelia came in through the main entrance. "Simmer down, Doyle. I'm back, and this really mangy dog followed me home," the undead woman joked, smirking as Xander shook his head at her.  
  
"Can I keep him mom, can I?" the vampire then asked Harmony, as the blond came over to hug Xander.  
  
"Well, Cordy..." Harmony told her boss, as she gave Xander the once-over. "He needs a trim, and I'll bet he'll eat us out of house and home. But if you really wanna keep him, first off we're going to have to get a flea collar..."   
  
"Hey!"  
  
Harmony laughed at Xander's annoyed expression, but she also noticed the smile of her best friend go up a few notches as she jokingly mentioned a collar for her ex-boyfriend. 'I'm going to have to ask her about that look later...'  
  
"Very funny," Xander then told them, as he then exchanged nods of hello with Doyle and the still-shy Tara. The bottle blond girl then went right back to her computer screen.  
  
"So, what do you think of the place Xander?" Cordelia asked him.  
  
"Well..." Xander spoke, as he looked around the large lobby and then upwards. "It's nice, but it looks like you have some water damage up there on the ceiling."  
  
The vampiress looked along with Harmony, but then dismissed it. "Yeah, but it's still sturdy and in great shape. That's just mostly cosmetic."  
  
"Yeah, for now," Xander continued as he kept looking. "But it means you have some bad pipes, or a leak in the outside drainage system. It's close enough to the outside wall...you should get it checked, Cordy. You might be here a long time, and I don't want parts of the place to fall on you  
  
someday like rotting plaster."  
  
Harmony exchanged a look with Cordelia, before glancing at Doyle. "I keep telling you Cordy, having a man around the house would help a bit..."  
  
"Har-de-har-har," Doyle fumed, as he walked away.   
  
Even Tara smiled at the exchange. It was obvious from the way Doyle and Harmony teased each other, that there was definite sparkage between them.  
  
Cordelia took Xander by the arm, leading him to the stairs. "You need to get the stench of that bus off of you. So it's shower time, mister! I'll bring up the clothes you'll need in a few minutes..."  
  
"Yes, mother..." Harris deadpanned, as he made for the stairs. "Room 234!" Cordy called after him.  
  
As he went up the stairs, Doyle came out of the inner office. "Cordy, David's on the phone. He wants to know when to meet you two..."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Ten minutes later, Cordelia opened the door to her personal chambers to hear the shower running. Along with Xander singing an Aerosmith song, and very badly at that. She stopped to listen to the words coming out of the bathroom...  
  
"I could spend my life in this sweet surrender  
  
I could stay lost in this moment forever  
  
Well, every moment spent with you  
  
Is a moment I treasure  
  
I don't wanna close my eyes  
  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
  
'Cause I'd miss you, baby  
  
And I don't wanna miss a thing..."  
  
Cordelia knew why Xander was singing that song...God! She wanted so much to just strip off her clothes, and jump into that shower with him...  
  
But the souled vampiress knew what that would lead to. She couldn't take the chance of pulling an Angelus - the last time they'd done it, she had decided it *was* the last time.  
  
Cordy forced the feelings she had down and listened, till he was done with the song - and to make it look like she hadn't heard him - before she went into the bathroom, and flung open the shower curtain.  
  
"Hey!" Xander yelled, as he threw his hands from his shampooed hair to try to cover himself up. He would have grabbed the curtain too; but Cordelia was keeping it out of his reach, as she rolled her eyes at him.   
  
"Oh, please Xander. It's not like you've got anything there that I haven't seen before! Your clothes are on the bed, so will you hurry up?"  
  
Before she released the curtain, and gave him a towel, the woman couldn't resist looking down and smirking at him. "Must be using the really cold water, huh?"  
  
Her reward for the joke was a towel in the face. "Fine then," the brunette girl said teasingly, as she took the towel off her head. "I'll just take this with me..."  
  
And she did, leaving Xander with no clothes or towel. "Cordy!" he yelled.  
  
She tossed the towel onto the floor, midway into the bedroom of the suite. Waiting to see him very annoyed, as he ran out naked to get the towel.  
  
Of course having wild monkey sex with her ex like she wanted to do, would most likely lead to him saying those three little words by accident. But it didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the sight of a naked, wet Xander running around for a bit. Mostly because she knew he would have done the exact same thing to her, if the opportunity presented.  
  
Minutes later, as she expected, Xander came out of the bathroom slowly. However, Cordy was disappointed to see he had the floor mat wrapped around his waist. As he went for the towel he told her, "Come on now, turn around!"  
  
She did as he asked. "And not in front of the mirror!" Xander yelled, as she giggled.  
  
'God, a Master vampire giggling like a schoolgirl!' Cordy thought to herself. 'I bet Angel never had this problem...'  
  
As Xander was drying himself off and dressing, she took things out of his pants pockets; to wash his old clothes, so he would be able to wear them tomorrow. She noticed something in his wallet, and got curious.  
  
'What, does he have a platinum card now?' the female vampire wondered. But what she pulled out was not a credit card.  
  
It was a folded-up, laminated picture. A picture of her.  
  
One that she recognized right away. It was one of the clues she'd sent to him, to get the guy to meet her at that hotel room in Sunnydale. On that night, so long ago now.  
  
Cordelia Chase had been called a shark in the dating world of Sunnydale High, and many of her old boyfriends knew it was true. She'd even told Buffy and Willow once, "When it comes to dating, I'm the Slayer!"  
  
But this had been very bold, even for her. And yet, Cordy couldn't think of any other guy she would have done this for.  
  
The picture was of a very underdressed head cheerleader in her bedroom. All she had on was a pair of red lace panties, while she was leaning suggestively over the bed. Cordy had sent the picture and the matching bra to him, with one of the hotel's card keys along with a note that said  
  
simply: 8 pm.  
  
It was way, way over the top for her; no boy had ever before gotten her to remove more than her Versace blouse. But when you want to lose your virginity to your first love, you do tend to go a tiny bit overboard...  
  
Hell, she had even bought a digital camera and photo printer just for that one shot. And Xander had expressed a keen interest in having a private photo shoot with her, later...  
  
'God damn it!' Cordelia swore, as she looked at the picture of herself when she had still been the nice, semi-normal Cordelia Chase. Xander Harris just had to have been the one to melt the Ice Queen...  
  
'I absolutely damn well hate this!' the teenage vampire screamed inside her head. 'It's not fair! It's not...right now Xander and I should be together, having a normal life, maybe thinking of getting married in a few years and having kids after that! If only there hadn't ever been any Buffy  
  
or vampires, then we could have been...'   
  
Cordelia didn't bother to finish the thought. For she knew that if there had been no vampires or Buffy, then yes she would be human still; but she and Xander would never have gotten trapped in that basement and ended up together, a thing that she still dreamt of constantly. 'Will this ever get any easier?'  
  
She was jarred from her thoughts, as Xander came up behind her and saw what she had in her hands. "You found that, huh?"   
  
Cordy kept her eyes on the picture. "You carry it with you?"  
  
"Of course I do. Hey, I still have all the pictures of you I had in my locker back at Sunnydale High...and the ones you had in your locker of us," he told her quietly. At her questioning look Xander explained, "After your...funeral...that is, Chloe gave them to me."  
  
They shared a long look into each other's eyes, before she broke away. "You know what this means, Xander?"  
  
"What, Cordy?" he asked.  
  
She turned back to him with mild amusement. "This means that before you leave, I get to take a naked shot of you for me to carry around!"   
  
Xander laughed with her, as he put on the casual black polo shirt she had gotten him. He silently thanked God yet again that young Chloe hadn't known what the sole picture was of on that yellow 3.5' disk labeled 'For Xander', that she had found on her sister's desk.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
An hour later  
  
"I see now what you meant about wanting your dork here, Cordy," Xander said, as he looked around. "You wanted me as a translator, huh?"  
  
They both looked up at the large banner hanging over the doors that read 'Los Angeles Sci-Fi Convention 99'. Minutes later, they found themselves among the crowd heading to their meeting with David Nabbit.   
  
"Cordy, ah, maybe you should haven't gone the whole nine yards with the makeup and that dress. Granted you look like a ten as always, but you're drawing too much attention here! The nerds are starting to drool..."  
  
Cordy looked around, and saw that several young men with bad haircuts and Star Trek shirts were indeed checking her out. "It's part of the image, Xander. David is way too well known with a lot of these people, for him to just have brought a hot date. But an online email buddy can bring a hot date. Or better yet, girlfriend. This place is so not first date material..."  
  
Three hours and one Magic the Gathering tournament later, Xander and David Nabbit - who was still wearing his black and red cape - were sitting near the stage that Kevin Sorbo had just given a Q&A at. Both men were watching Cordelia, who had at least six young Trekkers in a circle around her.  
  
"Oh, come on!" Cordelia said from her chair. "Seven of Nine is a terrible character! Kes was so much better. Okay, so she didn't look as hot in a cat suit, but at least she had a brain and a personality! Then again, Voyager is tanking now anyway..."  
  
"You don't like Voyager?" one kid who looked around 15 asked her.  
  
"No way," Cordelia told him. "DS9 and Babylon 5? Now, those are good shows."  
  
David watched her from his seat. "I have to say - this is definitely not what I expected," he told his old email 'friend'.  
  
"How so?" Xander asked, looking around.  
  
"Well," David began. "I expected...I don't know, maybe for you guys to be like Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee Jones. Uh, no, I mean - all slick and in control, like her on VIP, not just hanging out and discussing the merits of Seven of Nine's cat suit."  
  
"It's okay, David." Xander told him, enjoying the discomfort. "We're pros at this sorta stuff. And hey, the assassins that have been after you are not the type like on VIP. We're dealing with vamps here! In just a few hours now, the deal with your company will be done and the contract on your life is gonna be worthless; so, the bad guys will have to try something now. And have you noticed how Cordelia has been checking out everyone near her? Just watch her for a few minutes..."  
  
So David did exactly that. He was shocked how small yet effective her movements were. Cordy would seem to be talking to the assorted people around her, but her eyes seemed to be going from person to person; giving them a once-over. She would also look back to where he and her partner were sitting.  
  
David glanced back at Xander, who was doing the same thing. He was observing the parts of the large hall that she couldn't.  
  
The billionaire geek was going to comment on it, when Xander got up. "Get ready," he whispered. "We've got vamps. Incoming..."  
  
David Nabbit stood, and casually looked around. "I don't see anything..."  
  
"The three guys in the black Spock T-shirts?"  
  
David looked and frowned. "They look normal..." He then heard a click, and looked down in time to see a stake pop out of Xander's jacket sleeve.  
  
"Yeah, but they all have the same shirt on, with the price tag still on the hem from the vendor's booth. Lesson the first; vamps really suck at blending in," Xander whispered, as he gave a heads up to Cordelia – who immediately got a hard look in her eyes, as she followed his gaze.  
  
The vampiress instantly separated herself from her fans, thus crushing the hearts of many teenage boys. She reached the other two, just before the vampires reached them.  
  
"What can we help you with, boys?" she asked them causally. "I would have never figured you three for Spock lovers; but whatever floats your boat, I guess..."  
  
The lead vampire growled and vamped out, as he sensed Cordelia to be one of his own kind. "Don't worry your sweet little head about it. And sorry, but I'm afraid we're going to have to take your next meal. Find someone else..."  
  
"Well, now, I'm afraid that is just not going to happen." Cordy pulled out a stake seemingly out of nowhere, dusting the leader before anyone had time to blink.  
  
Cordelia then moved like a dancer on speed, as she fought another of the vampires. At times like this, being sired by a member of one of the oldest vampire families did have its advantages...  
  
Her next opponent seemed to have some skill though, and was following Cordelia almost move for move; they traded blows at a lightning speed that the on looking humans had trouble keeping up with.  
  
The souled undead heard a yell, and looked back to see her partner fighting with the other vampire. Her former love was trying his hardest to dust the bloodsucker; but she knew that as proficient a fighter Xander had become over the years, he was no match for a vampire in single hand-to-hand combat.  
  
And this vampire also had a switchblade.  
  
She turned back in time to see her opponent wielding a saber. 'Damn Highlander display!' The woman bent her upper body backwards, just in time to have the blade slice the air where her neck had just been. Cordelia quickly recovered, and then delivered a snap kick to the vampire's head as a wicked riposte.  
  
His head flew back with a sound that gave clear indication that he had gotten a broken jaw. It didn't have time to register it though, as Cordy drove her stake into its black heart.  
  
Dusted.  
  
The woman grabbed the sword from the pile of ashes, and ran to help her one true love. David jumped back, as he watched the young man he'd just met hours ago fighting the vampire. He was trying to find an opening to make a thrust with his own stake, but was not having much luck...  
  
The computer mogul winced, as the man was grabbed and tossed into the wall of the stage. Running to check on him, David found his comrade stunned with a bleeding cut through his sleeve.  
  
The shadow of the last vampire leaned over them both when David looked up in fear, just in time to see a silver flash. Then Mr. Nabbit had vampire dust floating down, and covering him.  
  
Both men glanced up, to see Cordelia Chase grinning down at them. "You okay, Dweeb Boy?" David noted the look of concern in her eyes.  
  
"Yeah, Cor," Harris groaned as she helped him up. "You know me. I may get knocked down, but I never stay..."  
  
He stopped suddenly, as Cordelia jerked. Looking down, they all saw a sword sticking clear all the way through her lower body.  
  
"Cordy!!" Xander yelled in fear and concern, as the sword was pulled out - making a sick sucking sound.  
  
To her credit the vampiress used all her strength and swung her own blade behind her back, sticking it in something; she just didn't know what it was, before she lost consciousness.  
  
As Xander gently lowered the unconscious body of his former girlfriend to the ground, he didn't notice the green blood spattered on her back. Or that some had landed on the red open wound the sword created.  
  
No, he was way too busy looking at the green-skinned, red-eyed demon dressed as some sort of samurai. 'Big honking red jewel in the forehead. That's new...' Xander thought, as he now wielded Cordelia's sword. "I'm guessing, there's no chance we can just talk about this?"  
  
The demon ignored him, and held its hand over its wound as he looked towards his assigned target. "David Nabbit, you are to be eliminated. It has been ordered that..."  
  
The demonic warrior didn't finish, as something flew through the air and nailed it on the forehead. Both men watched, as the crystal glowed for a split second before a tearing sound rippled through the air and the demon vanished screaming, in a flash of light.  
  
The former Slayerette bent down, and picked up a large piece of a heavy glass ashtray. "What the hell?"  
  
A deep voice came from behind him. "It was the only thing handy."  
  
Xander spun sword in hand...to come face to face with Kevin Sorbo. The large actor held up his hands, "Whoa there, pal. I come in peace." He was about to say something else, when he noticed Cordelia lying on the ground.  
  
Sighing, he told Xander, "Oops, missed that one. One second..."   
  
The sword being placed at his neck stopped the actor's motion towards the fallen Cordelia. Surprised, he looked up at the young man. "Ah, you do know what she is, don't you?"  
  
The boy's eyes were cold as he responded, "More than you do, it seems. Look, she's a special case...pal; trust me, we go way back. And I'd give my life for hers in a second. Just leave her alone." He then let Kevin stand back up. "Mind telling me how an actor knew how to kill that  
  
particular demon, and could also sense a vampire by sight?"  
  
Kevin just shrugged, as he walked away. "This world is just full of mysteries, isn't it?"   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Later at the Hyperion Hotel  
  
Xander watched from the second floor balcony down into the lobby, where David was sitting and telling Tara all about his company's new computer software. He glanced up from feeling the bandage on his arm, when he felt Harmony approach. "How is she?"  
  
The short blond sighed, as she moved to stand next to him at the railing. "She's in bad shape, but she's had worse damage. Unfortunately. Still, give her body an hour or two to heal, and she should be fine."  
  
Xander looked back down at the lobby floor. "I thought that stupid ring stopped this kind of thing happening, nowadays?"  
  
Harmony shook her head. "She wasn't wearing it."  
  
"What!?" Xander shouted. "She has this super magic gem, and she doesn't even use it?!"  
  
"She said it clashed with her outfit..."  
  
"Oh, Jesus Christ on a freaking sidecar!" Xander groaned. "Spike nearly bagged two Slayers wearing it, but Cordelia doesn't use it because it doesn't go with her dress?" He glared at his friend. "Harmony, she could have been killed today!"  
  
The girl looked at him with a tiny amount of anger. "Don't you think I know that? Don't you think she knows that?" Harmony stopped to collect herself before she continued, "Xander, look - she doesn't want to use it all the time. Do you know how many vamps we'd have in here, if word got out that she had it?"  
  
The boy looked stunned. "Well, uh...I guess..."   
  
"She doesn't want to give the bad guys anymore reason to attack us, her friends, if she can help it. Besides, Cordy wants to fight sometimes without it - or she thinks she might get sloppy or too dependent on it, if she ever lost it down the line," Harmony told him. "This was supposed to  
  
be an easy job. The ninja turtle rip-off was unexpected, ya know."  
  
Xander agreed with what she said, and then asked about what the blond had with her. "Well, uh, can the dress be saved?"  
  
Harmony shook her head. "No way. I helped remove it just now, and it's got a whole bunch of dried green demon blood on it near the..." she stopped, as they both heard a piercing scream.  
  
Cordelia's piercing scream.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
The door to her suite flew open, with Xander in the lead. "Cordy! Where are you?!"  
  
Cordelia's voice came from the bathroom. "In here."   
  
They entered the tiny bathroom, and Harmony noticed something out of the corner of her eye. "What the hell?!"  
  
Xander worriedly glanced at both of the two shocked women. "What? What is it?"   
  
Harmony grabbed him, and spun him around to face the mirror. "Holy shit!" the guy called out, as he stared at *both* his friends' reflections.  
  
"That's not all," Cordelia told them, in a voice hardly above a whisper. She then took Xander's hand, placing it on her chest.  
  
"You've *got* to be shitting me!" Xander said, stunned. He turned to Harmony with complete and utter shock. "Her heart is beating?!"   
  
~*~*~*  
  
The temple of the Oracles  
  
Cordelia felt like a bug being looked at through a microscope, as the two beings moved around her. "It's true then, brother," the woman said.  
  
The man agreed with his sister, "She is no longer a Champion for the Powers."  
  
The sister nodded absently, as she looked at Cordelia. "Or rather, not the same type of champion she was before. She fought for the light before her descent into the darkness..."  
  
The brother shook his head in disgust. "She fought not for the good fight but for the love of her mortal companion, when she dwelt alongside that Slayer. She is no longer of any use to us."  
  
Cordelia tried to follow the back and forth between the two. "So, you're saying that it was just the demon's blood. It wasn't the Powers-That-Be that did this?"  
  
The brother sighed at her question. "The Powers-That-Be? Did you save humanity? Avert the Apocalypse?"  
  
Cordelia shrugged. "No, but it's been a slow week."  
  
The sister came around to face her again. "You faced a Mohra demon. Life goes on."  
  
The ex-vampire was still uncertain. "My life as a human? I'm not poisoned, or under some spell? I'm, like, definitely back to what I once was?"  
  
The multi-colored woman contemplated her questions. "The Auguries say yes. And if it has happened, it was meant to be."  
  
Her brother agreed. "From this day, you will live and die as any mortal woman."   
  
The sister spoke from behind her. "Privy to all the attendant pains – and pleasures."  
  
"That which we serve, is no longer that which you serve. You are released from your fealty," the brother said, before they turned and began to move away.   
  
"That's it? I'm free?" Cordelia called after them. "So I just collect my gold watch, and have the obligatory retirement dinner?!"  
  
The brother held up his hand, and Cordelia went flying backwards out of the temple; to land painfully on top of Doyle and Harmony.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Hyperion Hotel  
  
Tara and David looked up, as the others came into the lobby. "What did they say?" Tara asked with concern.  
  
"It's true," Harmony told her, as she helped sit the still-shell-shocked Cordelia down on the round couch. "She's back to her old human self..."  
  
"Oh, wow," David whispered.  
  
Cordelia paid him no attention; she had something else on her mind, as she looked around the lobby. "Where is he?" the brunette asked Tara timidly.  
  
"Upstairs," the computer hacker responded. "He was pacing for a long time, then he said he was going to call and check in with Wesley back in Sunnydale..."  
  
Cordelia rose without a word, and went up the stairs. And as soon she went down the hallway, Doyle looked to Harmony. "What's she gonna do then, Princess?"  
  
Harmony didn't turn to face him as she responded tartly, "I think the old Queen C is about to reclaim her former prince consort..."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Hours later  
  
Tara lugged a box through the hotel hallway, and as she came past Room 234 she put her ear to the door. She got a large smile, at what she heard; well, above the moaning and other noises, that is.  
  
"Oh...God...please, say it again, Xander!"  
  
"I love you, Cordelia!"  
  
"Oh...I love you too, sweetheart! Oh, right there - yes, yes! I'm gonna - oh God, Xanderrrrrr!"  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Tara, you have got to send this program to Giles," Harmony told the bottle blond. "I know the man was like a father to Cordelia; but God, did he have way too many stuffy books!"  
  
"Ah, I'm still not sure about all this, darlin'," Doyle said for the third time. "You're saying that all our books are now in this computer program? We just type in a query, and it pops straight up?"  
  
"Well, not all of them," Tara admitted, while the computer was searching. "There are some books that Cordelia didn't want me to scan in. Said that it would be only asking for trouble..."  
  
At Doyle's confused face Harmony added, "Yeah, she told me about this thing that happened once, before she joined Xander's old group. It seems that this one book was some kinda prison for a demon; and when Willow scanned it, that released the demon into the Internet. Like, it made itself a cyborg body, and did all kinds of bad stuff..."  
  
Doyle put his head down, running his hand through his hair. "Why do I even ask?"  
  
The computer beeped, causing Tara to yell, "Got it!" She then typed another command and a video projector hooked up to the computer turned on; projecting her screen onto the white wall of the reception area.  
  
"Is that the demon, David?" Harmony asked him.  
  
The billionaire nodded, as he looked over at the black and white drawing. "Yeah, that's it."  
  
"Tara, call up the info on it," Harmony ordered.  
  
In a second, the image on the wall changed to a text page of information on the enemy.  
  
"Ah, right, Mohra demons," Cordelia's unofficial second-in-command read out loud. "They're very powerful assassins; and oh joy, soldiers of darkness."  
  
"They take out warriors for our side," Doyle took over reading. "Like Cordelia and those Slayers. And they need vast amounts of salt to live."   
  
Tara also read but from the screen, "'Veins run with the blood of eternity.' Is that it? Its blood has regenerative properties. She got cut, then it mixes with her blood, and she's human again?"  
  
"Can it really be that easy, though?" Harmony asked them, as she stared at the screen.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
A few hours later found Cordelia coming into the lobby, looking like something that Harmony hadn't seen since their 6th grade sleepovers.  
  
The former vampire from the Order of Aurelius was in a frilly pink bathrobe, no makeup and bunny slippers on. Her hair was also wet with a towel around it, but what Harmony noticed most was the very large smirk Cordy had on her face. Her best friend was happy, truly happy for the first time in a long while.  
  
"You found time for a shower," the blond female told her boss. "I'm impressed; I figured you would be way too busy with, ya know, something else..."  
  
Cordy just gave her a look that the former cheerleader knew very well. The look she had after she had gotten the boy she'd wanted back, during junior year. "Well, I was all sweaty. And that reminds me, that shower is way too small! I need to put in a bigger unit, a much bigger one..."  
  
Harmony just returned the old look. "Well, I think we'll have a certain young dark-haired handyman around here from now on, that would be more than happy to do that for you. I just don't know how we should reward him for all his future work around this place..."  
  
Cordelia gave her a wink. "Oh, I think I have that part well covered."  
  
They both broke into fits of laughter.  
  
"So, any immediate plans then?" Tara asked timidly.  
  
Cordelia got a gleam in her eyes. "Well, now that you bring it up..."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
"...And do you, Cordelia Chase, take thee Alexander Harris, as your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?" the judge asked.  
  
Cordelia looked into the deep brown eyes of Xander's as she said, "I do."  
  
"Then by the powers vested in me by the state of California, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride..."  
  
No other encouragement was needed as the two humans embraced, and gave each other the most passion-filled kiss they had ever shared. And considering their history in the kissing department, that was no easy task...  
  
"Thanks for doing this on such short notice, Mark," David told the judge.  
  
"No problem, David. What are friends for?" the old man said. "But now if you'll excuse me, I must return to the bench. Oh, and David? We are still on for golf this Saturday, right?"  
  
"Of course..."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Sergio's Italian Restaurant.  
  
"Here's your water, Mrs. Harris."  
  
Cordelia took the glass. "Why thank you, Mr. Harris."  
  
Doyle just groaned, "Eh, I know it's like a romantic fairlytale 'n all; but if they get anymore cuddly, I swear I'm gonna lose it..."  
  
Harmony ignored him, as she took Cordelia's hand to look at her ring. "Xander, how the hell could you afford this?" she asked, as the blond looked at the 24-carat gold ring with a large diamond in the center, and with three other smaller diamonds on each side.  
  
"I was kind of wondering that myself, boy toy."  
  
Xander gave Cordelia a weird look. "Boy toy?"  
  
The former vampire put her other hand on his thigh, as she giggled. "Well, you were my Dweeb Boy when we were dating; so, now that we're married I figure I might as well promote you to my boy toy." She moved her hand up his leg more under the table. "Any problems with that?"  
  
Xander quickly shook his head, "Nope, no problem here."   
  
"Good," Cordy said firmly, before she kissed him.   
  
"Okay, now, about the ring?" Harmony asked him again, as they ended the kiss.  
  
"Not much to say," Xander shrugged. "I just used Wesley's Council credit card. They won't miss it."  
  
This statement caused some to get nervous. "Ah, honey?" Cordelia started. "I know jewelry, and this had to have cost a few thousand at least. Not counting your ring. How could they not notice?!"  
  
"Easy," her husband told her. "The term 'endless pockets' applies here. They have more money than God, and I kid you not. It kind of comes with being around for nearly 10,000 years! And from what some of the records I've seen indicate, there is a ton of non-Slayage slush funds being used by everyone in the Watchers..."  
  
He grinned. "Trust me on this. No one is ever going to suggest an audit of any Council funds; because, hey, eighty percent of the Watchers live in mansions because of those Swiss bank accounts!"  
  
Doyle was going to ask if he could borrow that card for some outstanding gambling debts he had, when he felt the first tingle starting. "Oh, crap!"   
  
Everyone looked at him, as the Irishman crashed his head on the table. Harmony grabbed her purse and pulled out the aspirin bottle, as the man looked up from the table. "Great. She's human again, and I still get them?!"  
  
Cordelia was all business. "What did you see?"  
  
"Oh, I'm just fine Cordelia, thanks for asking..." Doyle said sarcastically, as he took the aspirin. At Cordelia's stern look, he just rolled his eyes.  
  
"Fine. It seems that the Mohra or whatever it was called had a partner, or brother, I can't really tell. But it's the same kind of demon, over at the saline plant in Redondo. Ah, thing is, this one is hurt already. Seems some big guy beat the crap out of it, before it ran off to heal..."  
  
Cordelia pushed back from the table. "Okay, got it. Everyone stay put, I'll be back soon," she said, before getting up and running out.  
  
"Damn it!" Xander swore and took off after her.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Cordelia was about to put the car in drive, when the passenger door opened. "No, Xander. You're not coming!"  
  
Her new passenger looked to her from his seat. "Well then, good thing I didn't ask if I could. You're not the vampire Wonder Woman anymore, remember? You can't do this on your own, Cordy..."  
  
"No, Xander, I just got you back! I'm not risking your life like this."  
  
Her new husband looked at her sternly, "But it's okay if I lose you? Again?"  
  
"Damn it! Fine, but after this we are going to have one big talk mister..." Cordy sighed, as she pulled the car out of the parking lot.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Cordelia Chase let out a growl, as she shifted her sword into her other hand after they had arrived at the saline plant. "Xander, I know what I'm doing..."   
  
"Could have fooled me," Xander said, not smiling. "Cordy, this isn't your average demon we're fighting here. Its double nearly killed you before, and now you're mortal..."  
  
"Xander, I am not the girl who just runs from this crap anymore!"  
  
"I know that, Cor. But all we are here is two former Slayerettes, with above-average fighting skills. We need the strength to back up the skill, or we have zip."  
  
She stopped and looked into his eyes. "Trust me, Xander. I would rather be plain old Mrs. Alexander Harris than be doing this, any day! But I can't just walk away and act like things such as this demon don't exist, and neither can you."  
  
"True," Xander admitted. "Okay, so now that we've established we're both nuts to fight this thing by ourselves, what do you think of the name Abigail?"  
  
Cordelia scanned the area around her. "Will you knock it off? I'm not pregnant yet!"  
  
The young man grinned. "You might be. We had a lot of practice recently, remember?"  
  
The ex-vampire didn't rise to the bait. "Xander, neither of us are even twenty. And given what our kids are probably gonna be like on account of their parents, there is no way I'm gonna be a grandmother before I'm 40!" At his puppy dog look, she sighed. "Fine, I like it, but what if our first  
  
kid is a boy?"  
  
"Bob?"  
  
"Not a chance in hell, boy toy," she told him bluntly.  
  
At that moment, the Mohra demon jumped down on them from a catwalk above. Without another word, the fight was on.  
  
Cordelia, still not adjusted to not having any vamp powers, got knocked down in just a few minutes. Xander tried to cover her while she recovered, but it wasn't going well for him either. They both knew their only hope was to smash the jewel, but even in its injured state the demon was practically wiping the floor with them.   
  
The Mohra grabbed Xander, and slammed him into the wall. The man tried to get up, but all the air had been knocked momentarily from his lungs. He could do nothing, as the demon placed his boot on his neck. "The end of days has begun, and it can't be stopped. For any one of us that falls, ten shall rise!"  
  
The demon lifted its sword to stab him, when Cordelia ran into it, knocking it off-balance. The sword went tumbling across the floor as she yelled, "You hurt my husband!"  
  
Mrs. Harris' anger turned to fear, when the demon easily recovered and pinned her by the neck against the wall. "The great darkness is coming," it sneered at her.  
  
"I've heard better lines!" Xander called out, as he used his little remaining strength to throw some salt he had found somewhere into the demon's eyes. The surprise caused the demon to drop Cordelia, who Xander tried to help up.  
  
Cordelia yelled in furious anger when she saw her husband then get grabbed from behind, and then thrown across the room into another wall. And she was hardly able to duck, when the demon threw a punch at her head.  
  
In desperation, the woman looked around the floor till she spotted a broken piece of metal pipe. Cordy grabbed ahold of it before the demon grabbed the back of her neck, and hauled her up against him. He spoke into her ear, "The great darkness is coming. You will all be destroyed when the walls crumble..."  
  
Not even bothering with a snide remark or insult, Cordelia just swung the pipe at her captor's head. She heard a crunching sound then the demon yelling, "NO!"  
  
It threw her to the floor, hard. All she saw was a bright flash of light from behind her; then there was nothing but the hum of the machinery around them.  
  
Cordelia crawled to her wounded husband, taking his head in her lap. "Xander? Honey? Come on, say something..."  
  
After a few moments, relief flooded her as his eyes popped open. "Damn, that hurt!" Xander wisecracked.  
  
"I know, baby," she held him. "But it's gone now, you're safe. Let's get you to the hospital..."  
  
"The hospital, yeah," he said weakly, as he winced in pain. "That would be good. Cordy?"  
  
"Yeah, sweetheart?"  
  
Through the pain he grunted, "I think my arm's broken. Will you sign my cast?"  
  
Cordelia's eyes started to tear up. "Sure I will, Xander. And I'll put a bright red lipstick kiss on it, too."  
  
"That sounds nice..." the young man responded, before he passed out.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
The temple of the Oracles  
  
The brother was annoyed. "You again."   
  
The sister was a little more interested. "What have you brought me?"   
  
Cordelia threw her a small Famille rose vase. "Ch'ing dynasty. Circa 1811."  
  
She inspected it closely. "Lovely."  
  
Her counterpart demanded, "Why are you here, lower being?"  
  
Cordelia was deadly serious as she stated, "The demon said the end of days had begun. And that others were coming, soldiers of darkness. I need to know if he was telling the truth."  
  
"As far as such things can be told."   
  
"Okay, so then what happens to Xander when these soldiers come?" Mrs. Harris asked fearfully.  
  
The sister shrugged. "What happens to all mortal beings. Albeit sooner, in his case. He will be amongst those on the front lines; but that is all we know of it."  
  
That rocked Cordelia to her core. "He'll die? Then - then I'm here to beg for his life."  
  
The Oracles turned and started to walk away: "It is not our place to grant life or death."   
  
Cordelia's next words stopped them in their tracks. "And for you to take mine back."  
  
The multicolored beings turned around. "Look, I can't protect him or anyone else this way, not as a normal woman," the ex-vamp explained.  
  
This intrigued the sister. "You're asking to be what you were? A demon with a soul, because of a mortal man?"  
  
Cordelia nodded. "He's more than just a man to me, lady."  
  
The brother looked bored again. "This is a matter of love. It does not concern us."  
  
"Yes, it does," Cordelia told him, the old Queen C persona rising. "Come on, I'm no good to you like this. I know you must have it in your power to make this right. Please..."  
  
"What is done can not be undone."   
  
The sister disagreed. "What is not yet done can be avoided."   
  
"Temporal folds are not to indulge in, for the whims of lower beings!" the male snapped.  
  
"You are wrong, brother," the sister spoke. "This one is willing to sacrifice every drop of human happiness and love she has ever known for another. She would live in darkness, so the other half of her soul can live. She is *not* a lower being."  
  
The brother admitted the point. "There is one way. But it is not to be undertaken lightly."  
  
"What is it?" Cordelia demanded.  
  
"We swallow this day, as though it had never happened," the sister told Cordelia. "Twenty-four hours from the moment the demon first attacked you, we will take it back."   
  
Cordelia thought for a moment. "Then none of this will have happened, and Xander and I...but what - what'll stop us from doing the exact same thing, all over again?"  
  
"You. You alone will carry the memory of this day. Can you carry that burden?"   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Xander was pacing with a cast around his arm, within Cordelia's room. He looked around the corner, when he heard the door open. "Where the hell did you run off to?" he asked his wife.  
  
"Nowhere," Cordelia said faintly, not being able to look him in the eyes.  
  
"Cor? Where did you go?" he asked again.  
  
"I went to see the Oracles. I asked them to - to turn me back."  
  
Xander was beyond stunned. "What?! Why the hell would you wanna do that?!"  
  
She finally looked up at him. "Because more than ever, I know how much I love you."  
  
Shock was setting in with the young man now. "No...no, please tell me you didn't!"   
  
Cordelia grabbed hold of him. "If I stayed mortal, one of us would wind up dead, maybe both of us. You heard what the Mohra said."  
  
"Who gives a crap what that demon asshole said?!" Xander yelled. "Cordy, it's dead. They're both dead..."   
  
"Others are coming."  
  
He shook his head frantically. "They always come, and there's nothing that can stop or change that! And hell, we are not the only ones who fight these things! Other damn champions can handle them!"   
  
"No, Xander," Cordelia said very forcefully. "You'll die! Don't you understand me?! YOU WILL DIE! I have that on the highest authority. And I will not let that happen!"  
  
"Cordy, I could get hit by a truck tomorrow, for God's sake! No one can know..."  
  
"I can know, baby," the brunette said, as she pulled him to her; wrapping her arms around him. "How can we be together, if the cost is your life?" her voice broke, as the tears started to flow. "I wasn't sure...if I could do this, if I woke up next to you again."  
  
"So what happens now?" Xander asked, his voice hardly audible.  
  
Cordelia stared into his deep brown eyes, as she ran a hand through his hair. "The Oracles are giving us back the day, turning back time, so I can kill the Mohra before his blood makes me mortal."  
  
"When?"   
  
She glanced towards her wall clock. "Another minute."   
  
Xander started crying, as realization set in. "A minute? No. No, it's not enough time!"   
  
Cordelia put her temple to his, as they cried. "We don't have a choice. It's done."  
  
"How the hell am I supposed to go back to Sunnydale, or even get on with my life, knowing what we had? What we could have had?"  
  
"You won't, baby. No one will know but me."  
  
"But...everything we did..."   
  
"It will never happen," the soon-to-be vampiress told him.  
  
Xander violently shook his head. "It did. Yes it did! I know it did!" He put his hand over her heart. "I felt your heart beat. I can say I love you!"  
  
"Oh my wonderful Xander..." They kissed for what might have been the last time. Then Xander looked at the clock. The minute was almost up...  
  
"No! No, Cordy, it's not enough time. We have so much left to do...little Abigail..."   
  
Cordelia tried to wipe away his tears, "Shh, please baby. Please..."  
  
The held each other tightly, both crying, before Xander looked back up into her hazel eyes. "No...I'll never forget. I'll never forget, Cordy. I'll never forget..."   
  
~*~*~*  
  
The shadow of the last vampire leaned over them both when David looked up in fear, just in time to see a silver flash. Then Mr. Nabbit had vampire dust floating down, and covering him.  
  
Both men glanced up, to see Cordelia Chase grinning down at them. "You okay, Dweeb Boy?" David noted the look of concern in her eyes.  
  
"Yeah, Cor," Xander started to answer before Cordelia spun and impacted the hilt of her sword into the demon's crystal, shattering it. The vampires watched, as the demon dissolved in a bright flash.  
  
David helped Xander up, before the fugitive Slayerette looked at his first love. "Hey, how did you...I mean, I didn't even hear it come up..."  
  
Cordelia tapped her nose. "A Mohra demon. They, like, reek of salt. There have been a few spotted in LA recently," she lied to him.  
  
Xander just nodded, not giving any indication he didn't believe her. For he had no reason to think she would be lying to him.   
  
"Come on, let's get that cut looked at," Cordelia told him, as she wrapped her arm around Xander Harris to help support him.  
  
As the two humans and one vampire left, none of them noticed the slightly confused actor watching them.   
  
And Xander was also so busy looking at his wound, that he failed to notice the incredibly sad look on his ex-girlfriend's face.  
  
As the trio got into the car, none of them noticed the bronze-masked, dark-hooded figure that had by chance arrived at the convention, where he would not seem to be out of place. Even more, they failed to notice the figure center his gaze on the car that was just now pulling away as he 'felt' something.  
  
He had found one of the assassins, the demon summoned by Wolfram & Hart realized. Holding out his hand, the Warrior of the Underworld said a magic phrase and almost immediately, a small winged creature appeared.  
  
"Seek," Vocah told the Homunculus. And obeying the master demon's command, the homunculus took off after the car.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Xander sat back in the bus seat, as it traveled down the highway away from LA. He hated to leave so soon, but the contract on David's life had only lasted a few hours after the attack, and after that weird demon that Cordy killed there had been no more incidents.  
  
Also, he was preoccupied with how Cordelia had acted afterwards. 'Something was bothering her, that's for sure. I must have missed something that happened...'   
  
Xander could always read her like an open book, and she him. But in the few times he had talked to her with her soul back, she had 'pulled an Angel'. She would just close up to everyone. But this time, Harmony had promised to find out what was the cause of her sudden brooding.  
  
Still, this grandson of a succubus was not holding his breath, on ever finding out what it was.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
The darkened underground apartment had been empty for a few months now. The unusual people that had lived in the place and worked in the office above, had moved onto a building better suited to their needs. None of them had returned, until now.  
  
In the brick-lined abode that was once her bedroom, the ensouled vampire Cordelia Chase cried. She sat alone in the corner of the room; she was second-guessing herself, hell she was even third-guessing herself. Xander's comments about little Abigail...  
  
'No,' Cordelia then thought firmly. 'I wasn't pregnant, when I asked them to turn me back. I wasn't. It was just too soon...' She had to believe that, if only for her own sanity.  
  
The situation kept on rolling around inside her skull, though. Some moments, it all made complete sense in her head. Others, it was the dumbest thing she had ever done.  
  
But the mere thought of Xander Harris dying of something other than very old age, cut into her soul more than she could bear.  
  
As she shifted her position on the floor, Cordelia felt something in her back pocket. Frowning, she reached back and pulled something out. And what she found made her weep.  
  
Her wedding ring.  
  
"How the hell-?" the vampiress whispered, as she stared at the gold ring. Through her tears, the large diamond seemed to sparkle. Her and Xander's vows from the quick wedding came back to her, and that kiss...she was sure that kiss would haunt her dreams, for the rest of eternity.  
  
AN: I'd like to thank Nodakskip for his immense help with this part and Theo for the Beta reading.  
  
Also if anyone is interested, Nodakskip mad a movie poster for this fic at http://www.geocities.com/nodakskip/hbl2.htm  
  
and if curious about the Halloween costume that had Buffy giving Alyssa dirty looks go to http://www.redvamp.8m.com/redridinghood28wolfR.jpg 


	31. Meetings

Harris Residence. November 25th, 1999  
  
After hearing from Alyssa there was no way that Willow would be at home celebrating Thanksgiving with her parents, due to the business trip that they were on and the fact that the Rosenbergs hated this particular holiday, Xander made his way to the house he'd grown up in - without a care in the world.  
  
As he neared his old home, the boy saw his Uncle Rory's light blue 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible parked in the driveway, which meant...that his Uncle Rory was in big trouble, now that he thought about it.  
  
Xander Harris knew that if he was ever faced with the choice of being locked in a room with his pre-AA dad, Buffy, the worst kind of demon in existence or his Aunt Lory having a bad day - then he would choose his father, the Slayer or the demon any time, over his pissed-off aunt.  
  
There was just something about her. Despite being shy and innocent-like one minute, she could be "one scary broad" the next, as his dad had often put it.  
  
Pausing for old time's sake, young Mr. Harris got behind the wheel, like he had when he was a little kid. Letting his mind wander, Xander then ruefully suspected his uncle might have allowed him to drive the V8-engine vehicle during his senior year, if he had been able to stick around in town...  
  
Then the young man saw his reflection in the mirror, and frowned.  
  
He had gotten caught up in the old memories, and now Xander's reflection didn't quite match up with his inner mental picture of himself.  
  
Pale skin, as a result of living mostly at night - helping Alyssa fight the good fight, dealing with the "Brat Pack", and having to avoid situations where he might be spotted by a random acquaintance of the Scooby gang on the streets, during daylight hours.  
  
Red bloodshot eyes, from not enough sleep and too much researching.  
  
Messy, unkempt hair - although, come to think about it, that part was actually pretty normal...  
  
Sighing to himself, the teenager got out of the car. Entering the home, Xander was curious that there was no activity noticeable...  
  
He made his way to his old room, when he then heard something coming from his parents' bedroom. Intrigued Xander walked towards the door, when suddenly he heard a heavily-accented woman's voice that sounded like his mom say, "Ve haff vays of making you talk, Herr Amerikaner! Cooperate, or suffer de conseckvences..."  
  
"Forget it, Fraulein," Xander heard another voice, that was undoubtedly male. And undoubtedly belonging to his old man. "I ain't talking..."  
  
"Haff it your vay" the woman said. The next thing Xander heard was the sound of bedsprings creaking, along with the sounds of giggling, slapping and moaning and...  
  
'Holy shit,' Xander thought dazedly, as he backed away down the hall away from his parents' room; but before he could go any further, the boy heard the muffled shouts of his Aunt Lory from behind the door of the guestroom.  
  
"Don't even think about it, Rory! I don't care if the other girls let you do that...no Rory, for the last time you are not going to give it to me in the ass..."  
  
'Oh my freaking God!! Now is so not the right time to be in this house!!!' Xander thought in total shock, as he quickly went to the kitchen; when he saw his Uncle Rory's car keys.  
  
The former Scobby then decided to help himself, as he got an idea. 'Why not? It's not like they're gonna notice for a few hours,' Xander thought with a shrug, as he quickly scribbled a note. 'Besides, I'd hate to interrupt what him and Aunt Lory are doing,' he thought sarcastically. 'And Lys needs her own chariot to bring her here already...'  
  
~*~*~*  
  
UC Sunnydale. November 25th, 1999  
  
Driving his Uncle Rory's car to Stevenson Hall, a cautious Xander Harris kept his eyes open for any sign of his former friends, even though Alyssa had assured him that all the Slayerettes were at the Giles home for the evening.  
  
Still, it did pay to be careful. Parking his uncle's car in the lot, the boy was about to get out to look for his redheaded friend, when he saw her.  
  
Alyssa was decked out in a pair of light-tan Dockers, and a burgundy tie front shirt that was showing more than a little cleavage...  
  
'Whoa there, pal. This is the Slayer! As in, she can kick your butt all the way from here back to Chicago! Besides, there's no way she'd ever think of you like that,' Xander thought, as he opened the passenger side door for Alyssa.  
  
Unaware that at the same time the redhead was thinking, 'If this doesn't get his attention, I don't know what will...'  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Harris Residence. November 25th, 1999  
  
After picking up Alyssa, Xander drove the Slayer back to his apartment so he could get changed for the occasion, and once he was done they drove back to his old home.  
  
And so, after parking the car in the driveway, Xander and Alyssa walked into a seemingly-deserted home, which for some reason seemed vacant.  
  
"Hello? Anybody here?" Xander called out, as he entered with the Jewish Slayer in tow. The two teens then walked into the living room, where they sat down on the couch; and trying to be a good host, Xander asked his friend if she would like any kind of refreshment.   
  
"Not at the moment," she said simply. "I'll wait for dinner tonight."  
  
"Okay," Xander shrugged.  
  
Then the front door banged open; as his parents, as well as his Uncle Rory and Aunt Lory, barged in. "Alex! You're safe!!" cried his mother, as she hugged him.  
  
Xander was embarrassed, as he saw Alyssa grinning at him. "What's going on?" he managed to ask.  
  
"We thought that that Buffy girl had found you!" Lory glared at her nephew. "What were you thinking, just leaving a note like that and gallivanting about? Don't you know you have to be careful? I ought to put you across my knee and-"  
  
"That's enough," Alyssa said sharply, ending the tirade. "He was with me. And therefore, he wasn't in any danger. I'm sorry you were needlessly worried, but Alex isn't a prisoner here. And you need to understand that."  
  
Lory turned furiously towards Alyssa; but then, she stopped before saying anything.  
  
This was no helpless human teenage girl; this was the Slayer, the Chosen One endowed with the strength and speed to fight the demons and vampires. The half-succubus suddenly realized that if she decided to throw down with this woman, Alyssa could easily tear her apart - since like the rest of her full-blooded "sisters", she wasn't a fighter.  
  
Ariel noticed the subtle power play, and as a distraction she told her son, "Well, it's almost time we headed off for dinner; your friend Wesley and his companion are supposed to meet us at that restaurant. So why don't you go wake up your grandparents, dear? We don't want to be late..."  
  
Xander shrugged, and excusing himself went off to do his job.  
  
Lory and Alyssa then looked at each other; and the tension in the room was palpable. Finally though the half-demon capitulated, "I'm sorry if I was a bit out of line, just now. It's just that I helped raise him when Ariel went back to school to finish getting her nursing credentials, and after a year of hearing almost nothing, I easily get-"  
  
"-worried," the Slayer said with a smile, trying to smooth things over. "It's okay. Totally understandable."  
  
The tension having disappeared, idle chatter took place till Xander appeared with his grandparents who were ready; then after his Uncle Dave came back from the park with his wife and their infant daughter they were ready to depart as well, so the gathering quickly left the house.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Sunnydale Red Lobster Restaurant  
  
While many families in Sunnydale were having the traditional Thanksgiving turkey gathering at home, the Harris clan was the exception as they decided to go out to the Red Lobster. There were a number of reasons for this; and they included the absence of dishes to wash, and weeks of leftovers, and of course the fact that Ariel couldn't cook anything if her life depended on it.  
  
As the patrons of the establishment sat down, Alyssa Friedman looked around - and not for the first time, she couldn't help but wonder how the hell an elegant and sophisticated woman like Lilah Morgan could find a total goof like her Watcher Wesley Wyndam-Pryce attractive.  
  
Then her thoughts turned to a very similar goof; her own champion, one Alexander Harris. The girl sighed to herself, after the waiter left with their order; what the hell could she do to make him notice her, already? And why hadn't he noticed that she'd been sending out signals, for months now?  
  
Maybe he still had feelings for that vampiress that he had encountered again in LA.  
  
Or maybe it was because he believed that since she was a Slayer, she would only ever see him as a friend - rather than a potential lover. And Alyssa hadn't forgotten her cousin Willow's stories, about how Buffy had hurt him that way when they were younger - like they used to say, once bitten twice shy.  
  
But before the redhead could ponder any further about it, Rory Harris began to bang a spoon alongside his wineglass, gaining the attention of the Harris clan and their guests.  
  
He made a short speech about how important their family was, and made welcome the new arrivals; then, finally, announced the big news. Earlier, he had asked Lory if she would marry him. She had accepted his proposal, and Rory felt that it would be proper if he was given her parents' blessing.  
  
The succubus was smiling over the news, but the expression on her husband's face was unreadable. He stared at Lory, then looked back at his baby girl's future husband and gave him a stare as well.  
  
Then while cracking a big smile Gene said, "You have it, son. But you break her heart or otherwise hurt her, and I can't guarantee that I'll bury your remains after she-" the retired mechanic indicated his oldest child, "gets done with you."  
  
Rory laughed nervously as he looked imploringly at his fiancée, who was at that moment showing her engagement ring to her mom, sister, sister-in-law, and even Lilah and Alyssa - when the waiter finally arrived with their meal.  
  
The servitor placed a large platter of shrimp pasta and shrimp scampi between the Slayer and her childhood boyfriend, when Alyssa noticed that Alex's mom was smiling at her - and then shared a nod with her mother and sister.  
  
That action was not lost on Xander, as he noticed the women sharing odd looks. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Of course not, honey," the blonde nurse assured him.  
  
A little later into the dinner, Alyssa heard a voice in her head. 'So, young lady, are you sure you're not having any dreams about whips, chains and my son?' as the redhead went to pass Xander some scampi.  
  
'Whoa, wait a minute there Ari! You mean to tell me that Red here wants Alexander that badly?' the Chosen One then heard the telepathic voice of Aunt Lory, as she almost dropped the food onto Xander's lap in consternation.  
  
'Yup, and being the concerned parent that I am, I was thinking of giving Alyssa "tips" on how to deal with the Harris men. Of which I could be considered an expert, seeing that I've been married to one of them for almost twenty years.'  
  
'And what kind of tips would you suggest, sister dear, considering now that I've just gotten engaged to one?'  
  
'Well Lory, the first thing you've got to do is let him know who's boss. Once he gets the idea, then he's pretty much putty in your hands - and let me tell you, you've got your work cut out for you with Rory here! But considering that you're a half-succubus just like me, you've already got the advantage of being a literal sex demon. So, work that angle! When you're making it with him, do things he'd only fantasize about to show how much you love him. This should have him always begging you for more, and so he'll never leave you.'  
  
'Things like?' the lawyer asked, intrigued by the advice.  
  
'Well, for starters, you could try to...'  
  
The expression on Alyssa's face turned into pure disgust, when she started hearing in her head the sex acts that Ariel was suggesting to Lory. Then the Slayer noticed that Alex was backing away from her, while trying to figure out what he might have done wrong this time.  
  
It was then that the redhead heard the blonde say, 'Shit, now we got him screwed up! Lys, show him a little cleavage.'   
  
'WHAT?!'   
  
'Just show him some skin, girl, and it'll be okay again. Just make it look like you didn't plan it,' the blonde half-demon continued.  
  
'But...but...' the Chosen One tried to respond.  
  
'Just reach over and grab the salt, Alyssa,' the telepathic voice of Xander's grandmother then told the Slayer.  
  
'But it's all the way over there. I'd better ask Alex to...'  
  
'No, you'll reach over and get it. That's what you'll do!' the succubus ordered.  
  
'But if I do that, I'll be almost on top of him to reach it!' the Slayer thought.  
  
'Yes, that's the whole point! Alexander always did tend to be a little clueless, when it comes to girls. So, help him out. Your cousin lusted after him for sixteen years, and I'm sure you don't want to waste time like she did,' Xander's mom stated. 'I mean, you never can tell. One minute you're fantasizing about him, then next thing you know a certain bold fourteen-year-old manages to get him in bed...'  
  
'Okay! Okay! I get the idea. But, ixnay on the salt thing. Any other suggestions?' the Jewish Slayer thought, as she ate another fork full of pasta.  
  
'Well, for starters, I suggest you hit him fast - and hit him hard. Of course, I mean this just in a figurative way! Tomorrow's a good day to begin; Alex is going to the mall tomorrow nice and early, to start his holiday shopping. Go with him, and make your move after you leave Benzene's.'  
  
'But he's just getting a new shirt there,' the bewildered Slayer thought.  
  
'I know, but what's next to that shirt shop at the mall?' the nurse thought, as she continued to eat from her plate.  
  
'You can't be serious?' the redhead thought frantically. 'He'd never go in there!'  
  
'Yes, he will. Just grab his hand, don't let go, and drag him into Victoria's Secret. Then ask him how the new teddy they have in the window, would look on you. And make sure you act like you don't realize you're asking him as a guy...only as a 'friend'. He'll go nuts.'  
  
'You really are an evil demon, doing this to your own son' the Slayer thought, trying to keep a straight face.  
  
'Did you ever hear me try to deny the charge? Besides, what can I say...like mother, like daughter...' the half-demon thought. 'Oh, and Lys? If you do get one, get it in a dark red color; and it helps to have on a pair of glasses. I've seen what my son likes; I did clean out his room a bit, after he hightailed it out of town last year.'  
  
'I am so not going to ask,' the Chosen One mused, almost shuddering.  
  
'Of course, if on that day you think that idea is a bit too ambitious, you could always try something simpler, but just as effective,' the pregnant woman said.  
  
'And that is?' Alyssa thought.  
  
'You could always get a navel piercing. Get him to come with you and hold your hand, because you're "scared" of needles.'  
  
Alyssa smiled at that one. Both were good ideas.  
  
The family and guests continued their dinner, making polite conversation; and when they were done, Alexa telepathically suggested to Alyssa to ask Alex to escort her home, which of course she did. After both of the teenagers said their respective goodbyes to family or host, they quickly left the restaurant.  
  
As Ariel watched her son and the Chosen One leave, she heard her sister say in her head, 'Any particular reason why you're trying so hard to get them together?'  
  
'Well, he does need to heal and move on from his last girlfriend. And I know she won't talk down to him, like I gather the blond Slayer did! Besides, their kids would just look so adorable, and I don't need Mom telling me how she's not getting any younger waiting for great-grandchildren.'  
  
'She could wait forever. But you'd think she wasn't immortal the way she's carrying on about it' Lory said.  
  
'You try telling her that,' the blonde nurse said, before her eyes opened wide as she clutched her belly in pain.  
  
"What's wrong?" the brunette asked her sister, not using her telepathy.   
  
"My water just broke!" the blonde said in a panic. "Why today of all days?" She muttered to herself. "Get Robert to call 9-1-1..."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
As they left the restaurant, Xander and Alyssa started chatting. And soon enough, the topic of conversation ended up on the boy's somewhat dysfunctional family.  
  
"It's just surprise after surprise, with my family," Xander semi-ranted to Alyssa. "I mean...my aunt Lory, of all people, has gotten engaged to my uncle Rory. It just boggles the mind. The deputy DA, and Sunnydale's favorite troublemaker. I guess it's true what they say, about opposites attracting each other! Of course, prosecuting him for his latest run-in with the law is not my idea of a fun date..."  
  
"Well, they do seem to love each other. And besides, I don't think your uncle is going to be much trouble, once your aunt gets done with him," the Slayer said, smiling.  
  
"You know what? You're right, and part of me is glad she finally found someone and he's actually been good for her," Xander admitted with a shrug.  
  
"And what makes you think that?"  
  
"Well my mom is going to give her a makeover...and oh boy, will he be in trouble after that."  
  
"Oh, really. And any particular reason why?" the redhead said, as her mind started telling her to ask the guy if he'd mind her coming with him to the mall.  
  
"Look at it like this, Lys. Just think of my aunt as your 'twin sister' in that movie; except after my mom gets done with her makeover, my uncle is gonna have more than just one guy competing for her affections. Especially in her workplace! Man, I have a real strange family..."  
  
"I couldn't agree with you more," the redhead said, smiling. "I mean, compared to the typical American family you see on talk shows like Springer, yours can't get any stranger! Especially since your parents aren't cheating on each other, or charging you rent to sleep in the basement..."  
  
"You're right. It could be worse," Xander said philosophically. The friends continued walking, eventually reaching the front of Stevenson Hall when Alyssa decided it was now or never.  
  
"Say, Alex..." the Slayer started to talk.  
  
"Yeah, Lys?" Xander said.  
  
"Would you mind if I went shopping with you tomorrow?" Alyssa said hurriedly, still unsure if she should assault him with a red teddy.  
  
"No I wouldn't," Xander shrugged, having no idea about the horrors the women had decided to subject him to during the dinner. "Especially considering that Wesley will be unavailable, for a while here. Besides, it's not like having company will kill me," the former Slayerette said.  
  
"That may not be true, considering the company you keep," both teenagers heard as a masked, dark-robed figure emerged from the shadows that surrounded the dormitories.  
  
"Whatever it is that you're selling, we aren't interested," Xander said with a scowl.  
  
Ignoring the boy's wisecrack, the dark figure closed the distance between the two teens. "I've been tracking you for some time now, mortal. If that is what you are. Make it easy on yourself and come quietly, and I won't hurt you too much."  
  
"If you want him, you're going to have to go through me first," Alyssa said menacingly.  
  
"And what have we here? A Slayer!" the demon said. "I have no time for something as insignificant as you," it all but spat out.  
  
"Well, excuse me for not making an appointment..." the redhead said as her training took over, attacking the unknown demon.  
  
"Just because you are the Chosen One, that will not deter me from accomplishing my goal, Slayer!" the Warrior of the Underworld known as Vocah pronounced as he backed away, while holding one of his hands behind his back. In that hand a battle scythe materialized, and he lunged at the young Slayer that was momentarily caught off-guard by Vocah's action.  
  
However, before he could connect his scythe with Alyssa, Xander managed to grab the weapon's handle with both of his hands. This caused Alyssa to quickly snap out of her shock as she quickly punched Vocah, following through with a kick to throw him off-balance.  
  
But with his millennia of experience, Vocah was able to shrug that off as if it was nothing. He backhanded Alyssa away, and then with his other hand he gripped his scythe and tossed Xander off of his feet. This was followed by kicking Alyssa in the stomach, temporarily disabling her as she gasped for air.  
  
With his scythe in his hand he moved towards Xander, holding the point of his weapon at his neck and saying, "Your fate lies elsewhere than here, infant. And you are coming with me, whether you like it or not..."  
  
Wishing that he had his mace or even his katana, Xander tried to think of a way to turn the tables on this demon - when he heard a swishing noise through the air, then saw the demon collapse with an axe in his back.  
  
Expecting to see Alyssa, Xander was surprised that for some reason, the Slayer was not standing where she should have been if she'd thrown the weapon.  
  
Suddenly, he felt something touch his shoulder and was startled; Xander instinctively threw a punch at his attacker, which was blocked by the redhead while saying, "Watch it!"  
  
"Sorry, Lys. Good throw, by the way!"  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"You killing the demon, duh. How'd you manage it from such a funny angle, anyway?"  
  
"Me? I thought you killed it!"  
  
But before the discussion could proceed, Alyssa's cell phone started to ring. "Hello? Yeah, he's here with me...really? Okay, I'll tell him, thanks Wesley," the Slayer said, before hanging up and facing Xander.  
  
"This is starting to become quite a night, Alex! Your mom's in the hospital. She's gone into labor, for crying out loud..."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
As she saw her beloved talk to the redhead who was without a doubt the new Slayer, Cordelia Chase was doing all she could to suppress her demon from rushing over and killing the Chosen One.  
  
Still, the way she was willing to defend Xander had made her pause on that idea (or anything better). 'Well, at least I stopped that damn demon from doing whatever it wanted to do to my man. Thank God Doyle's vision was right on the money,' the vampiress thought sarcastically, as she saw both Xander and Alyssa leave the campus towards wherever it was they were now heading after the phone call.  
  
Silently, Cordelia made her way to the body of Vocah, and with a yank she removed the axe she had thrown into the demon's back to save Xander's life.  
  
'Is this what it's come to, Xander?' the undead woman asked herself sadly, as she was getting the feeling her ex was starting to move on from her. 'Before, at least we could say hi, bye and the lies that we didn't feel what we felt for each other. Now, we don't even have that?'  
  
Cordelia just sighed, picked up the battle scythe as a trophy, and began to shadow her lover - unaware that the demon's body had begun to stir.  
  
As the Warrior of the Underworld regenerated itself, the demon started smiling. The only way he could truly be defeated was if a weapon wielded by himself - such as his scythe - were turned against him. In a few more minutes, he would resume his mission and...  
  
"I knew there was a reason I felt that I should stick around," a woman's voice suddenly said to Vocah.  
  
Quickly turning around, the master demon saw who had spoken to him. And in a voice filled with pure hatred he was able to seethe, "YOU!" before a battle scythe pierced his brain and sent him back to Hell, permanently.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Sunnydale General Hospital. November 26, 1999.  
  
As he woke up from sleeping while sitting down on the leather couch in the waiting room, the first thought that registered in Xander's mind was that he was a big brother; unless of course, his mom was still in labor.  
  
Looking down at his trusty old Tweety watch, he noticed that it was already 9:34 am. It had already been a little more than thirteen hours since his mom had started having her contractions, as well as being attacked by that demon...   
  
A demon that was after *him* this time, rather than challenging the Slayer, and the last time he had been singled out like that had left him in the hospital for weeks - thanks to the Nutty Rhyme...  
  
"Oh shit," Xander suddenly muttered to himself in realization. "Spike is going to kill all three of us if he ever finds out that we dusted Drusilla, chip or no chip..."  
  
He was about to get up and find out how his mom was doing, when the teenager noticed a mop of red hair was using his lap as a pillow. Looking down at her, Xander couldn't help but smile at the Slayer. She actually looked like Sleeping Beauty, especially considering that she wasn't mad at him (so far).  
  
But his train of thought was interrupted when he saw his grandfather walking down the hall, smiling as he said, "I'm a grandpa again!"  
  
"How are they?" Xander asked Gene Gibson excitedly.  
  
"Good, but if you want to see for yourself..." the old man said with a smile.  
  
"Where do we go?" the sleepy voice of Jewish Slayer said, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes.  
  
"Just down there. Look for his father," Xander's grandpa pointed.  
  
Getting up from the couch, Xander held out his arm for Alyssa to grab onto, as they both went arm in arm to visit his new baby sister.  
  
Reaching the delivery room, the friendly "couple" saw the male half's father looking through the window with a smile of deep contentment.  
  
"Morning Dad. So, which one is your handiwork?"  
  
"The one that looks like an angel," Robert Harris murmured, not looking at his son yet.  
  
"Uh, Dad? Not to rain on the parade, but they all sorta look like that," the ex-Slayerette said in confusion, staring at all the crying infants.  
  
"He means the one that's asleep, you big dope!" Alyssa said, seeing the newborn girl sleeping peacefully.  
  
"So what's her name, Dad?" Xander asked in embarrassment, trying to change the subject.  
  
"Mia. Mia Harris," the recovered alcoholic said with deep pride, finally turning around to look at the teenagers.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
While Xander, Alyssa, and his father were observing the newest addition to the Harris clan, Xander's incredibly distraught mom was being comforted by her mother and sister.  
  
"It's all right Ari," Lory told her sibling, trying to reassure her. "Everything is going to be okay here..."  
  
"No, it won't be Lory! I mean, why *her* of all people? What did my baby ever do, for something like this to take place? Mia's just an innocent. She doesn't deserve to have become one of them!" the new mother sobbed, hugging her sister.  
  
"I promise you everything is going to be okay, Ariel," the succubus told her daughter. "Nothing bad's going to happen to my granddaughter. Not as long as I'm around to prevent it," the demoness said in a determined voice, as she hugged both her children, tears in her eyes.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Well, I'm going to go see your mom," Robert Harris announced with a lopsided grin, as he left the youngsters.  
  
"Don't you mean the Fraulein?" Xander muttered under his breath.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Alyssa asked her childhood boyfriend, the enhanced Slayer hearing working overtime.  
  
"Trust me on this, Lys. You don't want to know!" Xander said instantly, as they rounded the corner while heading to the room that his mom was in.  
  
But back in the corridor outside the delivery room, the ensouled vampiress Cordelia Chase walked to the viewing window - as she came out of hiding, to look at Xander's new baby sister.  
  
Putting her hand on the window, Cordelia whispered sadly, "Abigail..." as she thought back to the day that never was - when she and Xander had been husband and wife - when suddenly, the brunette felt the presence of the Slayer.  
  
Turning around, Cordy unknowingly stepped into the sunlight; but thankfully for her, she had on the Gem of Amara, in case she encountered Buffy. But then she realized it was the other one that her man had claimed was Willow's cousin Alyssa.  
  
Her eyes focused on the redhead, Cordelia noticed that she was tall for a Slayer, and was definitely taller then Buffy. 'Probably as tall as me' the brunette thought.  
  
But what surprised Cordy the most was that she bore an uncanny resemblance to the actress that was the leading character from "She's All That".  
  
Cordelia Chase had never hated that 'Teenerella' movie more, than in this very instant.  
  
It was then that she noticed that the redhead was checking out her surrounds, no doubt having detected her from the Slayersense her kind inherited.  
  
It was then that the Slayer saw the brunette vampiress in the sunlight, but thought nothing about it since vampires burn in the sun's light. Grabbing the purse she had left behind, Alyssa saw Cordelia.   
  
"Isn't she just the cutest baby?" the red head said to the vampiress, referring to Xander's new born sister.  
  
"Yeah" the former May Queen said sadly.  
  
"What's wrong?" Alyssa said in a sympathetic tone.  
  
"I have this…..condition that won't let me have children" Cordelia said half-truthfully.  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that, but you never know. Maybe you could have a child some day" the Jewish Slayer said in reassurance.  
  
"You know, I think you're right," Cordelia said, thinking back to the brief time when she was human.  
  
"So" the vampires said turning to face the Slayer and wanting to change the subject to one that mattered just as much. "Any stud in your life?"   
  
A tiny smile appeared on the red head's face. "Well there is one guy" she said, "but he's still too hung up on his old girlfriend," she said, her tone turning neutral.  
  
"Really?" Cordelia said.  
  
"Yeah from what I have heard it was like the 'Taming of the Shrew'. All his old friends that knew them say that they where just wrong for each other. But when he talks about her I see the look in his eyes...and it just breaks my heart sometimes."  
  
Cordelia looked at Slayer, trying not to show emotion at that revelation. "Sounds like they really loved each other" the vampiress said. "But I think that he has to move on" Cordelia said.   
  
"Try telling him that" the Chosen One said.  
  
"He must be some catch if you're going to put up with his wounded phase" Cordelia told Alyssa.  
  
"You have no idea. He's sweet, funny, a good listener and while other people may not think so he's also pretty smart. He has this weird grin that just looks so cute on him", the Jewish girl said, grinning.  
  
Hearing this, Cordelia had to suppress all her demon's rage that some other girl liked his lopsided grin. While her and the demon trapped with in her couldn't really talk to each other, what Cordelia knew for sure was that the demon wanted Xander as badly as she did.   
  
"Have you tried to get advice on him from his friends?" the vampiress asked.   
  
"He doesn't have many friends," Alyssa said a little sadly. "There was this big blow up between him and his friends. He did what was right when they didn't have the guts to do anything about it. Then they acted like he was the devil afterwards"   
  
"Interesting" Cordelia, said.  
  
"You have no idea. He doesn't even want them to know he's back in town. I think that's why he still thinks of his old girlfriend. She is really the only link to that time, when he had great friends and was happy," the Slayer said.  
  
Cordelia remained quiet.  
  
"Sometimes I think its wrong for me to want him so badly. I mean its weird. He's just to damn honorable. He knows that there is Zero chance of him and his old girlfriend hooking up again. He still talks to her and I know she still wants him, but I think both know that it won't work. But he still thinks it's betraying her if he got with another girl."  
  
"Tell him your not trying to replace her in his heart. But you would like to try for something" Cordelia reluctantly said to her natural foe. She didn't want to, but this was something she had to do. She had to let her Xander go, and it was possible that this girl probably deserved her man. He probably did deserve her. But before Cordelia could go on further they heard Xander's voice calling Alyssa.  
  
Alyssa looked over and then back to Cordelia. "Oops got to go, maybe I'll see you around?" before she ran off in the direction she had come from as Cordelia kept her back to the way she left so that Xander wouldn't notice her.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the ex-officio Diaries of Rupert Giles, former Watcher to the Slayer Buffy Summers  
  
November 26th, 1999  
  
While celebrating Thanksgiving with our extended family at my home, my favorite vampire pest Spike visited us all, last night. He claimed to be unable to attack people anymore; that some sort of chip had been implanted in his brain, preventing him from killing or maiming anyone.  
  
And so after demonstrating for us, the undead creature was invited in after telling us that he had escaped from the mysterious commandos - that, as an aside, are now being constantly sighted by the group. But since none of us are idiots, William the Bloody was immediately tied up and secured in case this was another one of his nefarious schemes.  
  
But it was a little later that trouble caught up to us. Recently, a Native American burial site was discovered; and in typical Hellmouth fashion, the spirit of a Chumash Indian known as Hus was released. And, apparently, he'd decided to go forth on a vengeance spree...  
  
After trying to figure out what he would possibly do, Amy, Percy, and Willow went to warn the local college dean of a possible threat to his life, while Buffy continued to make the dinner.  
  
My wife was unavailable to lend her a hand; and I must admit, with the mood my former charge was in, Buffy would have hardly wanted her to do so. Jenny was in fact napping in our room, after returning from the doctor to check up on our baby's progress (one thing that magic is good for), when Joyce Summers arrived with her younger daughter Dawn as a surprise visit.  
  
But as soon as the Summers women entered, Hus began his attack.  
  
Buffy immediately had her mother and Dawn take cover in the bedroom with my wife, who was startled by the attack, while the two of us went on the defensive. However eventually, with the efforts from Jenny's charms, Amy and Willow's magicks and Percy's help, we were able to dispel the Chumash spirits once they were defeated in battle.  
  
But moving on, some slight tension among the two Slayers occurred today.  
  
It all started, when Amy mentioned that her favorite (and only) magic shop was closed. Thinking that an action of the demonic sort had happened, Buffy went to investigate; and she came back with the gossip that Xander's father, who bought the place around a year ago, had gone to the hospital to support his wife - who was giving birth to their second child.  
  
Upon hearing the knowledge that the Harrises were having a baby, Buffy had become somewhat angsty - due to her firm belief that she was not going to get the chance to have children, since she was probably going to die young; as, regrettably, most Slayers do. In a rare show of support, Alyssa tried to reassure her that that was not going to happen; and the girl mentioned that if she was able to survive the Cruciamentum, she could survive anything.  
  
Of course, the memory of that barbaric and pointless ritual only reminded Buffy that she wants nothing more to do with the Council. This, in turn, caused Alyssa to defend Wesley when Buffy slandered his character; the redhead saying that without his training, she wouldn't have survived her own Cruciamentum.  
  
Unfortunately Buffy then implied that Alyssa was nothing more than the Council's lackey blindly following orders, and I'm afraid things just went completely downhill from there...  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"So Alyssa, did the Council give you a cookie after you passed their little test? Did you roll over and pant for them, like a good little Slayer?"  
  
"Blondie, shut your mouth - you have NO idea what happened that night! So don't you dare talk about it to me, ever again!" the redhead demanded in a harsh voice. "By the way, thanks to him, I now happen to know better than ever who my enemies really are, and God knows Wesley isn't one of them!"  
  
"Tell me another one, you bitch!"  
  
"Slut!"  
  
"Wimp!"  
  
"Girls..." Giles tried to intervene.  
  
"Oh hell, just admit it, you don't really need that deadweight loser!" Buffy added heatedly. "I've done fine without a Watcher - any demon-y info I gotta get, Giles or Jenny can help out without all the backstabbing from the Council! Of course, you wouldn't understand that because you're just a Watcher's pet..." she went on.  
  
"You should ask Alex about that!" Alyssa yelled out in unthinking rage.  
  
"Who's Alex?" Willow asked her cousin.  
  
'Damn it!!' Alyssa thought frantically, calming down. "He's a very good friend of mine," the junior Slayer said truthfully.   
  
"And he helped you out in your Slaying duties?" Giles asked suspiciously.  
  
Alyssa just nodded, not wanting to give away too much information.  
  
"That's odd. Wesley hasn't mentioned anything about you having someone else helping out, and the Council..."   
  
"They don't know, and you're not going to tell them. It's none of your business, but Alex...got some sort of a scholarship in another state, when we left Chicago. I still talk to him a lot, on the phone; and via email as well," Alyssa finished up, technically sticking to the truth.  
  
"Does Wesley know about him?" Giles inquired.  
  
"Oh, of course he does! In fact, Wesley thanked Alex for helping me after my first Watcher was murdered and he finally found us," the redhead finished up, as she made her way towards the exit.  
  
The idea of a Council moron like Wesley letting this Alex person help out Alyssa was having trouble sinking into the veteran Slayer's head. "Where are you going?" Buffy demanded.  
  
The junior Slayer stopped, and turned back. "Out. But if it'll humor your massive ego trip, can I please have permission to leave, Your Majesty?"  
  
"Alyssa, what the hell is wrong with you?" Willow shouted.  
  
"Nothing, Willow. It's just that I'm tired of wondering what the hell happened to this great Slaying team that I read about, in two years' worth of Mr. Giles' diaries! But ya know what? It doesn't take a genius to figure it all out. Buffy here has basically become a control freak that everyone must obey without question; otherwise, the bitch comes out to play!"  
  
The entire library was quiet; even Spike was silent, who at that moment was bound to a chair while within the cage that had been used to hold Oz during "that time of the month".  
  
Alyssa went on, "I mean, after all the things I've heard that have happened ever since May last year? I'd be sleeping a whole lot better at nights, if I knew that the world didn't depend on Little Miss Ego here..."  
  
Buffy grinned nastily at her. "So, that's it? You jealous of how many times I've saved the world?"  
  
"Get over yourself; you had a team backing you up. You ALL saved the world! You'd have been killed at least three times, if your friends hadn't saved your ass as often as you saved theirs. By the way, loved your big victory over the Master when you got tricked into letting him get free; not  
  
to mention the drowning and getting saved by the member of the gang that I heard was Useless Guy..."  
  
Buffy's rage boiled over, and Giles managed to grab her as she ran towards the redheaded Slayer. "That traitor is nothing but a murderer! He was only there on account of Angel dragged his ass along, to do CPR on me!"  
  
Alyssa smiled, in an evil way. "You rewrite history in your mind a lot, don't you? Or else maybe you haven't read Mr. Giles' records properly..."  
  
The British man started to look very uncomfortable, both from restraining Buffy and a feeling of upcoming dread.  
  
The junior Slayer went on, "According to the Diaries, it was Xander that went and got Soul Boy to save you - who, if memory serves, was hiding in his apartment? Whatever. And since neither of them could foresee the future, I kinda doubt they knew that you'd need CPR. So, does that shoot down the rest of your little rant or what?"  
  
Willow looked to her cousin, "Alyssa, you don't have all the facts! Buffy said..."  
  
The Chosen One turned around in annoyance and interrupted, "I swear, Willow! If Buffy said the sky was pink and the grass was orange nowadays, you'd agree with her with in a split second! If you ask me you've become a sheep, just like that Harmony character used to be!"  
  
"How do you know about her? And what she used to be like?" Willow asked in confusion.  
  
Alyssa smiled, glad that she had taken Alex's advice. "Are you deaf? I just said I read Mr. Giles' diaries, already! Wesley showed me everything he wrote while he was with the Council, so I could study them - since I would be working with you guys. Wes taught me that when you get a new assignment, you familiarize yourself with everything you can; it might just save your life. Which reminds me..." the redhead said, starting to glare at her relative.  
  
"It seems that you forgot to tell me an important little detail regarding Xander, the mad dog traitor I've been hearing about for over a year. You told me that Xander killed Buffy's old boyfriend...the one that I eventually find out was a VAMPIRE?! For God's sake, Willow, the bloodsucker killed his girlfriend, and you told me he did it to get into Buffy's pants! Something tells me that he wasn't thinking about Buffy's pants, when he dusted the thing who sired what's-her-name, Cordelia!"  
  
Willow sputtered, "But, but you weren't here to see how it really was. He was always jealous of Angel, right from day one! Xander loved Buffy, but he knew he could never have her because she loved-"  
  
Alyssa stopped her. "Oh, please stop. You're actually telling me he still loved her, after Buffy let Angelus get away to kill his girlfriend after that stuff with the Judge happened?"  
  
Willow looked away, but Alyssa kept going. "Face it, cuz, the star-crossed love triangle story between Xander, Angel, and Buffy? It's starting to sound more than a little farfetched. For my money, I'd say by the time he left the Hellmouth Buffy might not have been well liked by Xander..."  
  
The Jewish girl paused for a moment, and then said, "Let's look at the facts here. You're telling me that just because the guy had a crush on Buffy once, that crush was all that drove his actions? That's insane!! From what I read, he saved her life more than once after she said no to him asking her out...and he did ask her out, didn't he?"  
  
"Yes," the senior Slayer said shortly.  
  
"So even after he gets a girlfriend, you figure that he still has to want to screw Buffy when he has his own girl?" the Chosen One continued.  
  
"But Xander betrayed us, because he obviously still had a huge crush on her and..."  
  
"Oh boy, you're like a broken record! Okay. So a crush makes someone a jealous killer? Fine. If that's the case Willow, how do I know YOU didn't murder Cordelia?"  
  
"What!?"  
  
"Come on, you had a HUGE crush on the guy ever since you were five! By your own logic, that makes you a killer. In fact, you might have wanted to kill ME, once you found out about the stolen kisses Xander and me were having the last time I was here..."  
  
"That's totally nuts! Alyssa..."  
  
"Look, Willow. I'm sorry if you don't want to hear this, but there are times where it helps to have more than one source of information. And in my opinion Xander staked Angelus for everything he did, not just for killing his girlfriend..."  
  
"Shut up!!" Buffy shouted, enraged.  
  
"Or what? You'll kill me?" Alyssa sneered, while Giles looked on in shock. "Of course, if I was Angel, you wouldn't do it. You never could. Angelus ran amok for months, and what did the mighty Slayer do? Nothing, that's what! She wanted her boyfriend back, I can understand that - but tell me, Buffy, how many of your friends would you have let him kill before you finally did your job?!"  
  
Silence was Buffy's answer, as she seriously considered duking it out with this...this...bitch that was obviously in way over her head.  
  
With nothing else to say, Alyssa turned around and left the library, which was still eerily quiet.  
  
"Ya know what? I like her," Spike said, as he grinned cheerfully from the chair he was still tied up in.   
  
Buffy, Giles, Amy, Percy and Willow just looked at him, in open-mouthed astonishment.  
  
"Demons and vampires, beware," the neutered undead went on. "There's a Slayer with a brain in town! Oh, I tell ya - if she'd just wear some leather, then she'd be the perfect woman!"  
  
Buffy silently glared at him.  
  
"Pissed you off pretty good, didn't she pet?" Spike said, with that ever-present damned smirk. "And, not my fault she has an even better rack than you do..."  
  
That was the last straw for the blonde Slayer, as she grabbed a stake and threw it at their captive; who frantically tilted his chair backwards so that he fell safely onto the floor, albeit more than a little painfully.  
  
"He's so wrong, Buffy," Willow said comfortingly.  
  
"I know, Willow. I know," Buffy replied.  
  
The Wicca nodded, "Yeah, you have a much better rack than she does..."   
  
Then Willow's face went beet-red, as everyone stopped and stared at her for saying that.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the ex-officio Diaries of Rupert Giles, former Watcher to the Slayer Buffy Summers  
  
December 1st, 1999  
  
The inevitable has happened; we have all grown completely sick to our stomachs about having to deal with Spike.  
  
Especially with his obsession for the 'Passions' soap opera.  
  
Jenny suggested yesterday, and Buffy agreed, that we should just cast a truth spell upon him so that Spike would tell us all he knows about the commandos, instead of letting him mess with our heads - like the soulless demon has been doing lately. That, and taking advantage of the fact that we didn't stake him on sight - which upon thinking about it, the vampire justly deserved, a million times over.  
  
Ever seeking to magically prove herself, Willow volunteered to cast the spell to cheer herself up, due to the fact that Oz is no longer around (although for the record, the boy did send her a card for Thanksgiving and keeps in touch once in a while). In fact, it was while she was in this depressed state that Willow cast another spell, to try and solve her problems...  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"I mean what kind of a witch am I, Buffy?"  
  
"You're a good one, Will. With a little more practice you'll be as good as Amy. Maybe even better."  
  
"Well, that would be nice...but I kinda doubt it'll happen."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Well, her mom was a witch too. Witches who are born with the magical heritage - they're, um, they're usually more powerful than the self-educated ones, like me. Besides, I couldn't even find Xander after he left, and that spell is a real easy one! If I was a decent witch he'd be here right now, getting what he deserves for what he did to the both of us..."  
  
There was a crackle of blue light in her eyes as she said it, and what the Slayer and the Wicca didn't know was that their former friend was right now sitting on Buffy's bed behind them - with his mouth wide open in horror, as Xander realized where he was. And more importantly, who was with him.  
  
'I wish I knew how I'm gonna get out of this one,' the former Slayerette thought frantically.  
  
"But we both know I'm not that good," Willow said instantly, "so the chances of Xander being here are zero to nil..."  
  
Without a sound, the quarter-demon vanished; and when Xander found himself back on the couch in his and Wesley's apartment, he fainted.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Another time, in another plane of existence  
  
With the crack of a whip, the tall skeletal demon with a scorpion's tail yelled out, "Put your worthless backs into it, you vermin!!!" as he ordered a group of slaves to continue mining for iron ore.  
  
The scene was being repeated in different areas of the mines and quarries nearby, as the souls of the damned labored for the materials that the Lord of the realm demanded.  
  
Then without warning, one of the overworked souls collapsed onto the ground. Immediately, the overseer made his way to the fallen slave and began to lash the exhausted soul, mercilessly. Taking advantage of the unannounced break, another of the slaves, with dark hair stole a glance across the charred and barren wasteland - seeing the massive, sinister fortress and citadel where the realm's hell-lord dwelled.  
  
Something big was going on. Why else would the production quota have been tripled?  
  
But that slave was not the only one wondering what was happening. For in another hellish realm that was very similar, other slaves were thinking the exact same thing, as they labored to harvest metal deposits for their Master's foundries...  
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the ex-officio Diaries of Rupert Giles, former Watcher to the Slayer Buffy Summers  
  
December 2nd, 1999  
  
Things could not possibly get any stranger here on the Hellmouth, magically speaking.  
  
The spell that Willow Rosenberg cast previously mentioned in these journals, the one meant to solve her emotional problems, had more than a few unexpected side-effects. Unable to control her 'my-will-be-done' magicks, a number of dire occurrences took place...  
  
In the course of careless conversation, I'm afraid Willow ended up causing no little distress to a few of the group. Talking with her cousin Alyssa the Slayer, the young witch apparently said in exasperation, "You just don't see things the way things really are, Alyssa! You don't see anything!" - which subsequently caused the Chosen One to go blind.  
  
Still, it could have been worse. Imagine, for example, what might have happened if Willows spell had caused Alyssa to be caught by a vampire while blind and maybe turned. I do not relish the thought of maybe loosing another of these children to the fate that befall my other charges Xander and Cordelia.  
  
Later talking about yours truly, Willow also mentioned that I didn't understand anything either, due to my castigating the girl about being late for doing the truth spell on Spike. And I subsequently found myself a stranger in a strange land - unable to speak or understand what anyone was saying, and astonished by such mundane things as why the color of the sky was blue.  
  
In addition, while talking to Amy Madison and Percy West and observing their romantic behavior, she made a disparaging comment about how Buffy and Spike should fall in love - and thus, both the vampire and the Slayer decided to elope.  
  
Thank God I was unable to understand what was happening, when I saw them kissing...  
  
Fortunately, my beloved Jenny realized something weird was going on and stopped the enchanted duo from doing something...regrettable. She then decided to talk to Amy and Willow about it. Willow was subsequently approached by some sort of demon named D'hoffryn; but somehow, Jenny was able to drive him off by threatening to curse him with her gypsy magicks.  
  
Of course, once Willow realized what had happened, she instantly reversed the spell - and started feeling very guilty. And so, Spike was lucky Buffy didn't dust him on sight. Alyssa was lucky a vampire didn't kill her. And Willow was lucky I didn't nail her spellbook shut, for her amateurish stunt.  
  
Still, it could have been worse. Imagine, for example, what might have happened if Willow had accidentally summoned the Xander vampire from wherever it may be...  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Another time, in another plane of existence  
  
"This way, quickly!" the commanding, bass-toned voice of the Archangel Raziel ordered, as a group of thirty-two slaves, each tattooed with a Serpent coiled around a Skull on their forehead fled through the narrow labyrinth-like passes between the kingdoms of Arkana and Teraxus as fast as they could.  
  
Unfortunately, the voice didn't exactly inspire confidence in the escapees. And the sound of the pursuing Fyarl demons on the Arkanaian side getting louder didn't do anything to help the fugitive slaves, either.  
  
Reaching a fork in the maze-like road, the Archangel immediately knew something was wrong - the moment it heard the sound of loose pebbles.  
  
"Be wary of Bar-lugura!" the Archangel called out, as it unsheathed its azure crystal sword and slashed overhead, cutting one of the pouncing demons in half. Another landed nearby him, but was dispatched as quickly.  
  
'There's no way these simians can hurt me,' the celestial being thought in a distracted way, as he slew another one - when he heard a woman's scream. Looking for its source, Raziel saw that one of the ape-like demons was climbing craggy cliff walls with a blonde slave girl slung over one shoulder.  
  
But before he could take flight to rescue the abductee, the demonic ape cried out in pain as it clutched its side and fell back towards the ground, the female slave flailing as she too fell - before being rescued by another Archangel who had wrapped one of its tendrils of light around her arm, thus preventing her from falling towards the charred ground.  
  
Two Devas then appeared, and clashed with the marauding demons; and within moments, the battle was over.  
  
"How many were you able to free from Teraxus, Ulic?" Raziel inquired, as the four members of the Host gathered together.  
  
"Twenty-seven," the Archangel said, in a similar bass-toned voice as he looked at the slaves, each with a tattoo of an eight-pointed star on their forehead. "But a group of Turok-Han are in pursuit..."  
  
"It won't be long before they catch up with us," the Deva named Sarah grunted.  
  
"We could make our stand here against them," the other Deva named Lara suggested, eager to fight.  
  
"We wouldn't stand a chance. Against Turok-Han and Fyarl demons, yes – but that's not all that is following us..." Ulic said, before they heard distant roaring coming from the Teraxan side of the canyon.  
  
"Is that what I think it is?" Raziel said.  
  
"It is," Sarah said, her faceless visage looking back. "And that's what's strange. Neither of the Lords has ever sent one of Them after escaped slaves, before now."  
  
Raziel looked around, deciding to get the slaves moving again when he heard a similar roar emit from the Arkanaian side. "Something tells me that the value of these souls has suddenly increased overnight," the Archangel said, as the four celestials began to lead the escapees towards what would hopefully be the way to their salvation.  
  
Eventually, the fugitives came upon a clearing in the rocks - and before the fifty-nine liberated souls, Ulic began moving his hands in various patterns while chanting a few words. As soon as he had finished the last one, a blue vortex appeared.  
  
"Quickly!!" Sarah gestured to the terrified souls, as one by one they stepped through the portal that would take them from the plane of Arallu.  
  
The sound of more roaring pierced the canyon, followed by the sound of Turok-Han and Fyarl demons fighting and more of the fearsome roaring.  
  
"We're in luck," Lara said, upon hearing the demons fighting amongst themselves – but regardless, the four Angels remained on guard in case the victors came across them.  
  
As the last soul stepped through the portal, the celestials began entering the portal, one by one - until Raziel was the last that needed to step through. Gazing back, the only thought the Archangel had was how lucky they were in avoiding combat with the pursuit forces - but what intrigued him the most was said pursuit forces.  
  
It wasn't common for the Lords to send their Turok-Han or Fyarls after escaped slaves. But neither was it unprecedented. However, what was of great interest was that Lords of Arkana and Teraxus had also each sent one of their most powerful demons to recapture the fugitives.  
  
And that was unheard of. Then the Archangel realized that perhaps the demons sent were not meant to capture. 'No, given the state of affairs between Arkana and Teraxus they had been sent to destroy the freed slaves lest they fall into the wrong hands' the Archangel thought as he stepped through the portal, and the vortex vanished, the sound of its passing drowned out by the roaring of the demons, and the clashing of claw, and blade.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman  
  
December 2, 1999.  
  
As of now, things are quiet (no doubt temporarily) ever since Ms. Rosenberg's incident with her 'my-will-be-done' spell. Luckily no one got hurt, with the exception of a few scratches on Mr. Harris's part; when he had fainted, after being in the dorm of his two former friends.  
  
Of course, a little later, Ms. Friedman arrived at our residence, stumbling about as if she was blind. We had entrusted her with a key - so upon entering, she wound up stumbling over Mr. Harris's unconscious body and fell on top of him, in a rather awkward position. Which was the moment I returned, after a rather pressing engagement with Lilah Morgan...  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Well, this is unexpected," Lilah purred at her boyfriend on seeing both Xander and Alyssa on the ground, with the boy's face practically resting against the redhead's cleavage.  
  
Lilah then grabbed Wesley's shirt collar, and brought him close to her. "Of course, we're not going to let a couple of kids show us up, are we Wes? And I've never been on a water bed before," the brunette lawyer continued, as she smiled wickedly at him.  
  
Wesley gulped as he saw the Look Lilah was giving him, and the lawyer led him to his room for what would be their last time together. Until the next time...   
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman  
  
December 9, 1999.  
  
Today I finally agreed (or was really more compelled to agree) to Ms. Friedman and Mr. Harris's request for an automobile. Well, it was either that or Lilah Morgan would be receiving certain photographs of me at the beach with a pack of "succubi"...   
  
Needless to say, I had no choice in the matter. Handing them the credit card, I instructed both of them to be responsible in what they were going to buy. Somewhat excitedly, Ms. Friedman grabbed Mr. Harris's hand and half-dragged him out of the door as they left.   
  
Some time later they arrived, with Mr. Harris quite visibly shaken and Ms. Friedman sporting a navel piercing and a smile that looked as though she had won the $49 Million Dollar Jackpot (Hopefully, a jackpot that will soon be mine because I've got the winning ticket).  
  
Of course, the first thing I wanted to do was see what they had bought (and how much it had cost me). To my amazement I saw that they had bought a newer model Volkswagen Beetle convertible! It was blue with a keyless entry, and Ms. Friedman was saying in quite a joyful tone, "Isn't it CUTE?"  
  
Mr. Harris, on the other hand, didn't look too sure of that. Apparently he had wanted to put flames on the sides, but Ms. Friedman wouldn't let him. Also of course, there was no way I was going to let her put "SlayMobile" as the license plate...I mean, does my Slayer have no idea of the meaning of the words 'secret identity'?  
  
Unable to restrain her (since she is the Chosen One), both Mr. Harris and myself decided it would be in our best interests to let Ms. Friedman take her new car out for a drive, which she happily did. And after she had gone, I asked my old friend what was wrong - because I noticed he could not stand to look at Ms. Friedman for very long.  
  
I asked him what had happened and what he told me had me sympathizing on the outside, and laughing on the inside after hearing what happened after they had bought the car…  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Let's stop here," the redheaded Slayer said to her crush, as she gently pulled his arm towards the store entrance a few doors down from the Benzene's.  
  
"Uh, why? Lys? Why are we stopping here?" Xander said to Alyssa, as he looked at entrance to the tattoo parlor.  
  
"I've been wanting to get my navel pierced. But there's a little problem," she said in a honey-like voice.  
  
"And that would be..." Xander said, asking her to finish.  
  
"I'm scared of needles, so I was wondering if you could hold my hand when I get pierced."  
  
"Are you serious?" Xander said, trying not to be loud. "How can you be afraid of needles?" he continued, and then whispered, "Last night, you rammed one of your punch daggers through a vampire's chin sealing his mouth shut while smiling the entire time - and you're afraid of needles?"  
  
"That's different," Alyssa said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "*I'm* the one that's getting pierced this time, instead of the vampire," the Slayer finished up, grabbing Xander's arm and half-dragging him into the tattoo parlor.  
  
A little while later, sporting her new piercing, the redhead eagerly entered Benzene's with Xander; smiling all the while, as she stole a glance at the store next door.  
  
Xander and Alyssa then went to take care of the male teenager's business. But to the Chosen One's surprise, her crush did not bother to try on the shirts he was planning to buy. Which was annoying, as she wanted to see him shirtless...  
  
After paying for three shirts instead of one, Xander and Alyssa exited the store. Then Alyssa casually glanced over at the display window of Victoria's Secret, and spotted the teddy that Xander's mom had mentioned.   
  
Ms. Friedman instantly blushed red. 'I'm supposed to tease him, while wearing THAT?!?!'  
  
The teddy was made of a sheer floral pattern lace with delicate ribbon ties in front and slim, twin adjustable straps. 'Well, I did want to get his attention,' the Slayer thought, beginning to second-guess herself.  
  
Regaining her resolve, Alyssa acted on the advice of the demonic nurse by grabbing Xander's hand with a Slayer-strength grip and dragged him into the store.  
  
"Lys, what are you doing?" a frantic Xander said, as the redhead made her way to the nearest courtesy clerk, hearing her ask the clerk if it was possible to try on something that was on display in a red color.  
  
"I need your opinion on something, Alex," the Chosen One said, still holding onto his hand to prevent any escape attempt while trying not to show how nervous she was.   
  
When the clerk returned with something in he hands, Alyssa took it and then half-dragged Xander to the back area where the changing areas were. "Wait right here," she told Xander, in a commanding tone, as she went into the room to change and leaving Xander by himself, in a store that sold women's sleepwear and undergarments.  
  
The young man concentrated on the door of the changing room, when he heard light laughter coming from the sales clerk. He gave the clerk a Look.  
  
"Don't worry kid," she said. "You're doing better than the last guy I saw in here. He practically peed his pants when he saw his girlfriend!" the clerk snickered. To her it was so obvious that this guy's girlfriend was going to mess with him, after all she had seen a few girls do amateur fashion shows for their guys.  
  
"She's not my girlfriend!" Xander said.  
  
"If you say so," the clerk said, smiling as she went back to the store area, leaving Xander alone.  
  
With nothing else to do, the grandson of a demon turned back to stare at the door. After about five minutes had passed, the door opened and there stood Alyssa Friedman, the Chosen One - as if she walked right out of a Playboy video, her arm hanging against the changing room door, with Xander looking at her without blinking.   
  
"Alex, do you think you could find a pair of red high heels that are my size?" the Slayer said, looking at him like everything was normal, but knowing full well that for the former Scooby member this was anything but normality.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Wes...it was just...I can't even begin to explain it."  
  
The Watcher just couldn't hold it in anymore, and burst out laughing as Xander looked at him in complete confusion...when it *finally* dawned on the teenager what had been going on.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Lys, we need to talk," Xander said firmly to his best friend a bit later.  
  
"Sure, what's on your mind Alex?" the Slayer said, smiling. 'This is it,' she then thought, with more than a little trepidation.  
  
"I figured out what - look, I like you, Lys. I mean, I-I really like you," the quarter-demon said, much to the redhead's delight. So much so, that she almost didn't hear the next part - that almost tore her soul in half.  
  
"But only as a friend. I'm...I'm just not ready to get into a new relationship right now, and...well, maybe some day Lys. But right now, it's just way too soon for me."  
  
"Some day? And when will that be exactly, Alex?" Alyssa practically demanded, the hurt not allowing her to think straight.  
  
Xander flinched, he'd been afraid of this. "I'm sorry, Lys, but..."  
  
"It's Cordelia, right? Look Alex, I may not understand what the two of you had, but what I do know is that you can't mope around over her forever. Yes, she's a vampire and yes, she has her soul - but think, Alex. How can the two of you truly be happy, together? Especially her? 'Cause if she gets a happy, she loses it."  
  
Xander was quiet, not knowing what to say - as that was all true.  
  
"Look Alex, I'm not trying to replace Cordelia. I know, and I'm sure she knows, that you'll always love her. But it's been over a year since you two..."  
  
"Try around two months," the clipped, angry voice interrupted her.  
  
Alyssa flinched, but kept on going. "My point is the longer you keep clinging to the past, the longer it's going to hurt you. Unfortunately, there isn't some magic spell or anything to make her human again; I'll bet you a box of Twinkies that Buffy searched for nearly two years, to do it for Angel..."  
  
Xander looked away, the comparisons with him and his blonde former friend not something he wanted to contemplate.  
  
The Slayer finished up, "Alex, I consider you my best friend and I hope I'm considered yours and that you listen to me when I tell you to let go. You won't heal, until you do."  
  
It was silent between the two potential lovers, when Alyssa turned around and began to make her way to the exit of the apartment. Opening the door, the Chosen One turned back, smiling, and added as she was about to exit, "Besides, I know you liked what you saw in the store and when I went all One Million B.C. with that beer..."  
  
Xander flushed red. And as the Slayer left, the young man could feel something weird happening to him.  
  
He could feel the end of his old existence passing away, and the beginning of a new one being born..  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Mount Celestia  
  
As the former slaves were paraded down the paved streets of the city, its residents welcomed them to freedom with cheers and rose petals being thrown from above, and the sound of ringing church bells also ushered their arrival into the utopian kingdoms of the High Heavens.  
  
These souls, who had been brutally abused for what felt like eternity in the depths of their own personal hell, were simply in awe of the majesty of the city's beauty - and its architecture of crystal, ivory and marble. But even that was dwarfed upon seeing the building they were brought to, for never in their existence had they ever before seen something as large or beautiful as what was currently before them.  
  
Then as the former slaves were ushered into the structure, they all noticed that they were being separated, and led off into different directions.   
  
"Why have I been brought here?" the dark-haired former slave with the tattoo of a serpent coiled around a skull on his forehead, half demanded to the Archangel Raziel.  
  
  
  
"There are questions that must be put to you," the Archangel said, in its echoing bass-toned voice. "Questions that need answers."  
  
  
  
"Questions? What kind of questions?" the freed soul asked.  
  
  
  
"The freeing of worthy souls from the two kingdoms of Arallu is a frequent occurrence. However, what made this foray interesting is the pursuit forces that were sent to retrieve the fifty-odd slaves liberated by the Seraphim," Raziel said.  
  
"What do you mean?" the soul said in confusion.  
  
  
  
"Hamatula tend to be the guards of Arallu's kingdoms. However, this time what was sent after the escapees were military forces. Perhaps you could tell us why?"  
  
"Maybe they'd had enough of you guys poaching on their territory?" the soul shrugged.  
  
  
  
"Perhaps. But there is also the matter of why *you* were being guarded by a group of Barbazu and you were being escorted by a pair of Gelugons as you were being transferring to another cell. Not the typical guards for a common prisoner."  
  
The soul could only shrug again in confusion, as he looked at the faceless visage of the Archangel - when two large doors of ivory opened next to the duo, and another soul walked by. Escorted by two Devas.  
  
Like the one with Raziel, she was also dark-haired, but was younger and familiar...when it suddenly hit the former slave what was different.  
  
  
  
"What happened?" the soul asked, pointing at the other's forehead – where there should have been a tattoo.  
  
  
  
"They got rid of it," the escorted soul said in wonder, putting her hand to her forehead.  
  
  
  
"Did they ask you anything?"  
  
  
  
"They just wanted to know about the work details. They seemed very interested with the fact that we'd been doing more work than usual..."  
  
"Please come with us," the two Devas said to the male soul in unison. "We have much to ask you."  
  
  
  
The soul looked at the Archangel, who nodded at him. Left with no choice, the former slave left with the two Devas, who led him down an enormous hall - one lined with marble pillars, and doors of ivory.  
  
"Please enter," one of the Devas said, as they came to the door at the end of the hallway.  
  
  
  
The soul entered, and the first thing he saw was a walkway illuminated by light. Turning around, he saw that the doors were gone, as were the Angels. Looking back at the platform the young soul continued to the end of the walkway, when light appeared all around him.  
  
And then, he was in awe at the size of the vast chamber. All around the guy, as well as both above and below, there were thousands of Seraphim.  
  
  
  
"We have much to discuss with you, immortal soul, but before we begin we must first hear your name. Your real name, bestowed under the holy baptism, during your mortal life," a huge, echoing sound that felt like it was composed of thousands of voices reverberated.  
  
  
  
It took a few moments for the soul to realize that they were talking to him. Then he finally opened his mouth, saying one word.  
  
  
  
"Liam."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
From the ex-officio Diaries of Rupert Giles, former Watcher to the Slayer Buffy Summers  
  
December 5, 1999  
  
Even as I write this, more strange events have occurred. In particular - Spike has started sexually harassing Alyssa, of all things.  
  
As mentioned before in these journals, recently the vampire had been granted his freedom - since he really can't harm anyone, and the lot of us were getting sick and tired of waiting on him hand and foot. Well, that and Jenny demanded he no longer be kept chained up in our bathtub...  
  
It all happened in the library, when Spike took to showing Alyssa a few catalogs of clothes.  
  
Not surprisingly, he showed Alyssa the swim wear section - and then continued his habit of making rather tactless comments by saying something along the lines of, "This French cut string bikini would look really great on you, pet..."  
  
Of course, Buffy's reaction was beyond shocked as she said, "I don't believe this! A soulless vampire is acting hot for a Slayer?!"  
  
Spike then gave her a look before saying, "Oh, give it a rest luv. I just think she would be a great lay. But to LOVE a Slayer...now, that would just be completely against my character! Who'd you think I am, the dearly departed magnificent poof? Not to mention it ruin my reputation as the Big Bad..."  
  
Buffy, of course, had to be restrained from instantly staking him. But it was Alyssa's reaction, which was the most unexpected!  
  
Grabbing the catalog, she tossed the book towards the table near her and stood next to the neutered vampire, pushing him down onto a chair. What she then did was lean right over him, her chest almost in his face, and she slowly began to unzip her top while saying, "You don't need me in a bikini, Spike..."   
  
Of course, this caused Spike to nearly start drooling at the skin that Alyssa was showing - when she suddenly slugged the vampire right in the jaw, sending him (chair and all) completely across the room.   
  
And as he picked up his literal corpse from the ground, Alyssa then said to him with a shrug, "Sorry Spike, I don't do vampires; I have standards. Of course, there's another Slayer that likes Vampires. Of course you better make sure you buy her some of that cursed band candy first, learn how to do some brooding and a Catholic schoolgirl outfit would probably help..." she finished before she left, leaving behind an angry Buffy.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
A few days later  
  
"What do you mean, Wesley, that she just left?"  
  
"Exactly what I said, Alex. When I asked her where she was going, Alyssa just mentioned something about having today's only class canceled and that she was going shopping in Los Angeles."  
  
"Meaning that she also took the Enterprise, right?" Xander said mournfully, inquiring about the car with the license plate "1701B" that was supposed to be for them, rather than for just her.  
  
"Your powers of deduction never fail to impress me, Alex," Wesley said sarcastically.  
  
"Oooh, someone's in a bad mood," Xander said teasingly. "Hmm, could it be our mutual friend refused to take you along to meet a certain vivacious lawyer?"  
  
"Yes," Wesley said, his head downcast.  
  
"Well! I can tell you from experience that going Greyhound is a lovely way to see the state, and get to LA pal. And, it woulda been nice for Lilah to have the destroyed furniture for a change."  
  
"I told you I was sorry about that," Wesley said with a scowl, unable to believe his friend would not forget about a certain wild afternoon he'd spent with his paramour.  
  
"So says you, but you weren't the one that had to sleep on the floor because your bed was occupied, on account of the waterbed in your room mysteriously got broken, or clean up a place that looked like it had been ransacked by burglars! And call me curious, but I do want to know where that whip came from..."  
  
Wesley immediately noticed that the floor of their apartment was very interesting. "Technically, it was a, uh, flogger..."  
  
"Really? Well, ya learn something new every day. And of course I don't think I'll ever forget the expressions on the Brats' faces, when they happened to drop by for patrol and they heard Lilah climax, despite the fact that I had 'Diablo' on full blast to drown that out. And I don't think I need to tell you how much Cordy yelled at me over the phone after she found out that her little sister had heard what the two of you were doing. You two were going at it like rabbits, Wes. And rabid ones at that!"  
  
"What is this? Pick on Wesley day?"  
  
"Um, lemme check the date," Xander said, walking to the refrigerator. "Yup, it is!" he added with a grin, writing in red pen on the calendar 'Pick On Wesley Day'.  
  
"You know what this means? War," Wesley said, in a cold tone.  
  
Xander grinned. "Bring it on, buddy!"  
  
"Chess."  
  
"Risk."  
  
"Magic."  
  
"Warhammer."  
  
"Fantasy or 40K?"  
  
"Doesn't matter."  
  
"Football, and not that stuff you play in the States; FIFA football."  
  
"Starcraft."  
  
"All right, but I call first dibs on the Protoss."  
  
"Fine with me. I'm the Zerg."  
  
"Now that's not fair. You and your Carrier Killing Scourge..."  
  
"Whine whine whine, Wes."  
  
"Them's fighting words, boy."  
  
"So, what are you going to do about it?"  
  
"Paintball."  
  
"You're on, as long as you don't fall back on hand-to-hand combat tactics."  
  
"Who's the whiner now?"  
  
"Twenty bucks says you!"  
  
"Fifty."  
  
"A hundred!"  
  
"Oh, you're going down..."  
  
  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Los Angeles, California.  
  
Parking the Enterprise (while still thinking that "SlayMobile" was a way-better name) Alyssa grabbed her small backpack and was about to take out her punch daggers, but decided against that.  
  
She had come for help and advice. Not a fight. Sighing, the redhead decided to leave the weapons in the "SlayMobile" (there was no way she was going to call it the "Enterprise" in her head) and made her way towards the entrance of the Hyperion Hotel, where she was greeted by a blonde girl behind the lobby desk.  
  
"Hi, I'm Harmony. Can I help you?" the blonde asked in a friendly way.  
  
"Yes, I understand that you deal with supernatural problems so I'm looking for Cordelia Chase," Alyssa said.  
  
"Okay, not a problem. But how can we help you?" Harmony asked, trying to be helpful.  
  
"Just being able to talk to Cordelia," the Chosen One said.  
  
"All right then, please come with me," Harmony said, leading the way towards the office, past an older-looking dark-haired man who was laying on the couch with an ice pack on his head as he groaned.  
  
"What's with him?" the Slayer asked curiously.  
  
"He has a headache from our last case, which also happened to be one of the weirdest," Harmony said.  
  
The Slayer looked at the Homecoming Queen, imploring her to continue.  
  
"Well, uh, we have this tendency to help anyone that we can, as well as those that are paying clients. Anyway, this weird, bickering couple arrives – and what they want to do is put the spark back into their marriage, if you know what I mean. So, they ask us to watch over their children..."  
  
Alyssa just looked at the blonde, then the dark-haired seer and a smile crept on her face. "So these kids were basically a handful, while their parents used the building like it was their own private sex motel?" the Slayer said.  
  
"Actually, no. They went on a romantic getaway to God knows where for a week, while we got the kids. But here's the twisted part. The kids' father is a demon, while their mother is a genuine angel, you know, with the feathered wings!" the blonde said. "And the little brats drove us all  
  
insane! I mean one moment; they're the sweetest things possible. Then next, they're like Hell on Earth! But then again, that explains things."  
  
"Yeah, I guess it would. How do they get along? I mean one parent is evil incarnate, the other is pure good," the Slayer agreed.  
  
"I don't know if I'd agree on that part about the angel being good," Harmony said flatly.  
  
"Why do you say that?" Alyssa asked, curiously.  
  
"Well, before they went on their getaway, the son of a bitch started hitting on me, asking me if I wanted to give him a private tour of the hotel and pet his 'snake', right in front of his wife. So then she gives him an atomic wedgie!"  
  
"Uh oh," the Slayer said, as she tried not to giggle.  
  
"Yeah. She flat out told him that while he may be evil, she happens to own his ass. Then while she was looking at their children she said that if he knows what's good for him, he'll behave - which he did, reluctantly," Harmony finished up, as she reached the office door where she promptly knocked on the door and a "Come in" was heard.   
  
Harmony opened the door, and motioned for the Slayer to enter.  
  
"We got a new client, Cordy," Harmony said to her friend and boss, when she heard both the client and the vampiress say, "Oh, shit!"  
  
The now-confused Harmony looked between Cordy and the new client, as she could almost feel the tension building. "Oh, so I guess you two know each other? It's a really small world, isn't it?"   
  
But both women ignored her remark as the redhead walked to the desk, planted her hands on it and leaned down to be looking right at Cordy. "You were wearing that stupid ring that day, weren't you?"   
  
It was more a statement then a question.  
  
"Yes, I was," the vampiress said, putting down the icepack that she had on her head. "But I'm not in the mood to fight you right now, Slayer. Not after dealing with the worst monsters that have ever walked the Earth..."  
  
"How old were they?" the junior Chosen One inquired, smiling.  
  
"Five, three, and two," the former May Queen said with a snort. "Ya know, when I was still human I told Xander that our kids had better not be like that, or else I'd-" Cordelia then caught herself. It didn't help her to brood on what might have been.  
  
"Whatever. Well, I take it that a certain dork with brown eyes is the reason why you're here?" Cordelia smiled sadly.  
  
"How do you know I'm not here to stake you?" Alyssa asked softly.  
  
Smiling Cordelia said, "Because if *that* had been your plan, you would have come in a helluva lot more noisily. Slayers tend to do that. Of course, staking me like this wouldn't exactly get you into Xander's good graces, and there's the fact you would still need to deal with my friends..."  
  
"They don't look like much, but then again appearances can be deceiving. Look at Alex..."  
  
"Alex? My God, you call him Alex?" Cordelia said, eyebrows raised.  
  
The red-haired Slayer looked surprised, as the vampire and the blond look at her. "What? He introduced himself by that name, when he first came to Ness High in Chicago last year. Of course, the twisted thing is *I'm* the one that started calling him Xander in the first place..."  
  
"YOU gave him that name?" Harmony said in shock.  
  
"Of course. Back then it was just me, him, and Willow - and I was all 'God, what kind of a name is Alexander?!?' Like I said, twisted."  
  
"Yeah, it sure is. So, any particular reason why you're here? Xander didn't call and say anything about you two coming up," Cordelia asked.  
  
"Of course he didn't," the Slayer said, shaking her head, smiling. "He's not here - he thinks I've gone on a shopping spree, which is something I've heard you did quite well. He told me once his feet still hurt, from carrying all your bags at that closing-down sale..."  
  
Cordelia allowed herself one tiny smile.  
  
"Of course, after hearing about what you would buy, it's amazing that the fashion police haven't caught up with you," the Chosen One said, smiling slightly.  
  
"Oh, you didn't just say that!" Cordelia responded, eyes wide.  
  
"No. I'm just saying that the days of when Cordelia Chase was the fashion queen of Sunnydale High and the dreaded prosecutor of the ugly and unfashionable, are long gone."  
  
"I'll be right back," the undead brunette growled, as she got up from behind her desk and stormed out of her office, leaving redhead and blonde together.  
  
"Yikes," Harmony said after a few seconds. Alyssa looked at her. "It's just the last time she got like this, I was with Doyle all night at the bar where he first met Kate, and I'm not even twenty-one yet..."  
  
Alyssa kept quiet.  
  
"So, any reason why you want Cordy to have a deep and meaningful with you?" Harmony said, trying to make small talk. She knew exactly what the redhead had been up to.  
  
"Yeah. I'm kind of hoping that she can tell me what I'm doing wrong, and what else I should do to get a certain brown-eyed dork to notice me."  
  
Harmony only nodded, privately thinking that if the Slayer and Xander got together then Cordy would be in major brood mode for months.  
  
"So…you're Willow's cousin?" Harmony said, continuing to make small talk.  
  
"Yeah, just don't tell anyone," the red head said somewhat conspiratly as she grinned.  
  
"Don't get me wrong but you're not what I expected" Harmony said.  
  
"Do share" the Chosen One said.  
  
"Well for starters I expected you to be mousy and non-matching (if you know what I mean) as well as being charging in with guns blazing. Not to be fashion savvy and…"  
  
"Have Xanderlike remarks" the two heard behind them. Both spun around and saw Cordelia walking back into her office, wearing the Gem of Amara. "Prepare to be slayed, Slayer," the vampiress said as she dropped a few Credit Cards onto the table, much to the duo's shock.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Much, much later  
  
"So, what do you do for fun here?" Alyssa asked the former May Queen, as she partly struggled in carrying her goods.  
  
"What we just did was the only fun I've had, ever since I became a vampire," an equally encumbered Cordelia said, while also thinking 'This girl knows how to shop, and her taste is passable.' "So, back in Sunnydale, were those all the reasons why you like him?"  
  
"Pretty much," the Slayer said. "Of course, the problem is that he's still hung up on you. Don't take this the wrong way, but what kind of a future would the two of you have, knowing that you could never experience happiness?"  
  
"And what kind of a future do *you* plan to have with him? No offense, but let's face facts Slayer, you are the Chosen One and it's your sacred duty to fight vampires like me," Cordelia said sarcastically. "Don't forget that odds are, one day you won't come back from patrolling at night..."  
  
"Yeah, but I don't plan to be a Slayer all my life. I'd really like a real career, especially one that doesn't involve saving the world every week. Besides, despite all her talk about hating it, I think Buffy gets off on being the Slayer; and I think she'd enjoy it when I make up some speech about not being able to handle the stress anymore, and whine my way out of my duty," Alyssa said grinning.  
  
"She can be a drama queen at times," Cordelia agreed with a small smile.  
  
Alyssa was about to respond when the familiar sound of a cell phone chirping was heard, which Cordelia quickly answered.  
  
"Yes...are you sure? Okay, I'll check it out," the vampiress said, before hanging up and turning back to look at the Slayer. "Sorry to ruin the fun, but one of my associates gets visions of people who are in trouble and need our help from the Powers that Be (whoever they are) and this is just something that I really need to do."  
  
"What do you mean by ruining the fun? When I asked you what do you do for fun around here, I meant by the literal nightlife of this place!" the Jewish Slayer said, smiling.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"This is something unusual," the male Oracle said, on seeing the vampiress and Slayer.  
  
"Why have you come, lower beings? While a vampire and a Slayer together are enough to warrant our attention, it is analogous to if a cat and a mouse have come here," the female Oracle said.  
  
Cordelia started to say, "My friend that has the visions, he saw one that indicated that you two were in danger and-" but the laughter that came from both of the Oracles surprised her.  
  
"Why would the Powers entrust the lower beings with something as important as our safety?" the male Oracle asked, when he flew back into the wall, impaled by a sword and rendering the creature lifeless.  
  
"How dare you enter this sacred place!" both supernatural women heard the female Oracle shout. "You know very well that we do not counsel your kind. The powers of darkness are not allowed to cross this threshold!"  
  
"Yet crossed the threshold I have," a feminine voice said in a mocking tone.  
  
Both brunette and redhead turned around to see who it was that had spoken, and were amazed by what they saw.  
  
She was tall and with dark hair. Even with the tattoo of an eight-pointed star on her arm marring it, her scantily clad figure was perfect. But the one characteristic that made her stand out as being of unnatural origin were the large white feathery wings, that were visible on her back.  
  
"So you have, darkling," the female Oracle said, not bothering to even look back at her partner that was impaled against the wall. "But what do you hope to gain from this?"  
  
The mysterious raven-haired woman just smiled, and just as suddenly disappeared from view.  
  
Acting on instinct, both vampire and Slayer ran towards the location where the winged woman had been - when they both heard a gasp behind them. Turning around, both saw the winged woman pulling a green sword out the female Oracle's chest, the woman's golden body tumbling non-elegantly towards the floor.  
  
Alyssa was immediately raised her guard and Cordelia changed her face to attack mode, when the killer began to shake her head.  
  
"Sorry, ladies," the woman said, "but I don't have time to waste with you two right now."  
  
"Why did you kill them!?" the vampiress demanded.  
  
"Simple," the woman said, smiling. "They could have warned you about our surprise."   
  
"Surprise? Warned us about what surprise?" Alyssa said taking a step forward, noticing that from her sword a green substance was dripping onto the floor.  
  
"Now now. If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise," the woman said, placing her sword back in its scabbard and disappearing.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
The Hyperion Hotel, a little later  
  
"So, so, now that we've lost our number one source for information and leads, what do we next?" Tara Maclay asked.  
  
"Think happy thoughts," Alyssa said with a shrug.  
  
"That does it," Cordelia said with a headshake. "You need to stay away from my man, before you learn any more of his bad jokes..."  
  
"Newsflash, Queen C. He won't be your man for much longer, not after I've seduced him. Of course, the first thing I have to do is figure out *how* exactly to get him into bed..."  
  
"YOU'RE GOING TO WHAT!?!?!?" the vampiress shrieked.  
  
The Slayer looked at the vampire... 'No, it's Cordelia,' she reminded herself. "Let me ask you something, Cordelia. You can't be with him. So, what, are you going to have him keep warm the dating bench with his cute ass for the rest of his life?" the Chosen One asked. Then she smiled, "Besides, back when I was trying to skin him alive I told him that he could run and he could hide, but in the end I tend to get what I want."  
  
Cordelia looked like she was going to murder the redhead. 'Who the hell does she think she is, telling ME to give my Xander up? I know that I have to let my love go, but to have another girl all ready to take my place like that is *so* not a good thing to hear!'  
  
Angelus's creation was about to bite back with a cruel barb regarding a certain movie, when for no reason Doyle said, "Oh no..." right before he collapsed, clutching his head as the Powers That Be sent him a new vision. "Lovely lookin' girl, and she's goin' to be in real big trouble. Along with a bunch of other people..."  
  
"Where?" Tara asked.  
  
"It didn't say."  
  
"Can't you just star sixty-nine them, or something?" Alyssa asked in amazement.  
  
"No," Tara answered with a shrug.  
  
"Well, this is just really great," Cordelia muttered. "I'm supposed to help out someone, without being told where to go? Some help those guys are..."  
  
"Well, now that I think about it, there's a place we could try for information," Doyle interjected, hoping to defuse the situation. It obviously worked, because everyone started looking at him. "But, uh, the only thing is, you're gonna think it's really strange..."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"You have got to be kidding me!" both the Slayer and vampiress said simultaneously, as both witnessed a small, green, scaly demon with a white Mohawk sing Randy Newman's 'Short People Got no Reason to Live' on the performance stage of the Karaoke bar.  
  
"No, he kids you not," both young women heard behind them.  
  
Turning around, they came face to face with a tall, green-skinned demon with red eyes, horns, and a red tailor-made suit. "It may not look it, but Cuddles is quite the singer. Welcome to Caritas."  
  
"Thank you - I think," Cordelia said with a frown.  
  
"So, which of you two lovely vixens is going to perform tonight?" Lorne asked, getting down to business as he stared at both supernaturals.  
  
"Are you serious?" a bewildered Alyssa asked back.  
  
"How about it, Red?" Lorne said, smiling at her. "I'll even throw in free drinks tonight, just for you. Non-alcoholic, of course."  
  
"I don't know, singing never was my strong point," the aforementioned redhead shrugged.  
  
"Do you have any Dido?" Tara squeaked out, but then quickly covered her mouth with her hand.  
  
"Of course - and don't you worry, miss. You'll do fine," Lorne said, reassuring her. "I mean, you can't be much worse than Jennifer Lopez when she..." Lorne broke off, as he recognized someone. "Well, well, well, would you look at who else showed up tonight! Finally decided to come pay your tab Doyle, or are you just leaving?"  
  
"Actually, me and my friends just need some direction-"  
  
"And they'll get it, Allan Francis, once your tab is paid," the Pylean exile stated calmly.  
  
""How much does he owe you?" Cordelia snapped impatiently. The Pylean shrugged, and named a figure.  
  
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!" Harmony, Cordelia, Alyssa, and Tara cried out, before they all gave their Seer a glare that would have melted glass.  
  
"Here you go," Cordelia said to the Host, as she handed him a wad of bills. The empath demon gladly took it; then she glared back at Doyle. "And this is coming out of your pay, you drunken welcher!"  
  
"Oh, come on Cordy. I'm supposed to take Kate out to dinner tomorrow night!"  
  
"Moving on to her, are you? And I'm sure she'll prefer it that you've learned your lesson!"  
  
"Okay! Now then, who'd like to sing after Cuddles?" Lorne asked, eager to hear the new talent.   
  
~*~*~*  
  
Demon slave dimension  
  
Sometime later  
  
"Sorry, but if I don't do windows, what makes you think I'd do manual labor?" Cordelia heard the redheaded Slayer say to the demon calling itself "Ken", as she broke free from its grip and rammed her punch daggers clear through its face and neck, before throwing a kick to another demon that had been trying to sneak up on her from behind.  
  
So far, everything was going according to plan. While both Slayer and vampire were distracting the bad guys, Doyle and Tara were in the process of freeing some runaway kids - people that had been kidnapped, to be slaves in the demon world they were now in.   
  
Alyssa and the Fang Gang had ended up here after going through a black tar-like portal in a building with a front of being a youth shelter, and it was working.  
  
"Humans don't fight back! That's how it works!" one of the slavers growled at the two supernatural women.  
  
The demons were so intent on stopping the female duo, they hadn't yet realized that they were losing slaves to the Wiccan and seer. As she broke one of the slavers' necks, Cordelia ducked as she saw another demon swing a battle-axe at her neck.   
  
'Just another day on the job,' the vampiress with a soul thought, as she grabbed another one of the assholes and positioned him in front of her to absorb the battle-axe that was meant for her.  
  
That was when Cordy heard an angry, "YOU BASTARD!!" come from where the Slayer was. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS JACKET COST?"   
  
And for the demons, everything just went totally downhill from there.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Mount Celestia   
  
Liam started telling the Seraphim what he knew. "I don't really know much," he shrugged again. "Before I ended up in...before your people rescued me from that place, the last thing I remember is a girl..."  
  
He stopped for a few moments, relishing the memory of his blonde beloved, which was the one treasure the demons had been unable to steal from him. "I think she must be one of you? She was an angel, so beautiful and pure - and I loved her with all my heart, all my soul. Then I - and then I had my throat slit. I remember that, the knife was...and I was so angry..."  
  
Liam then shivered. "Then I woke up in a place that's straight out of my worst nightmares. At least, I think that's what they are. And ever since then, I was kept in their prisons, being moved randomly from cell to cell. Don't know why..."  
  
"Is there nothing else?" the voice boomed out magnificently, in the same echoing bass toned voice.  
  
Liam looked thoughtful. "Uh, the only other thing I know is a phrase I accidentally overheard once from a guard. Something called "the Raising"..."  
  
"I do not see how this has anything to do with the bigger picture," an angel interrupted. "Mephistopheles's spawn have overworked the unfortunates and damned before..."  
  
"But never on a scale such as this!" another seraph interjected.  
  
"Which can only mean, Tyrael, that Arallu is once more united - and might possibly seek to overthrow Satan, or even Lucifer himself. Simply put, it is business as usual and none of our concern when it comes to the politics of Hell."  
  
"That is ludicrous Moebius. Arallu united once more? Next, you'll be telling us that there really will be an anti-Christ!" another celestial said with disdainful disbelief.  
  
The unity of the voices had vanished, as the factions appeared; the Traditionalists (who wanted the world of man to end, so they could start again from scratch with a better template) argued that nothing all that untoward was taking place. Their argument was that yes, it was unusual for  
  
the sheer scale of the work production to be increased like that; but it was of no concern to them. Whatever would happen to the world of men because of it, it was not their business.  
  
But another group of Angels who had grown fond of mankind, the Progressives, argued against this policy. One of them even paraphrased a human saying; one that went something like, "the only thing evil needs in order to triumph, is for good men to do nothing when the time comes to take action". They could not afford to just react to the developing situation; pro-active measures were now required.  
  
But then again, it was pro-active measures that had led to the schism between the Lord and Lucifer in the first place, when the Divine Prince and many angels of various ranks had allied themselves with rebellious demons in the overthrow of the First Evil.   
  
It was this display of pride and action, that had ultimately led them to their damnation...  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Hyperion Hotel. December 11th, 1999  
  
"You know, I understand that those demons deserved to die for what they'd  
  
done, but did you really have to be that brutal with them?" Cordelia said, as they made their way through the front entrance of the hotel in the waking hours, a few minutes before the sun rose.  
  
"They ruined my jacket," the Slayer snarled.  
  
Doyle grinned. "Which can be a good thing, when you look at it..."  
  
Alyssa glared at him, which Doyle took to mean 'for your sake, you better be able to talk your way out of this one'.  
  
"Ya see, Slayer, now that your jacket's been ruined, ya can carry on like it's the end o' the world. And if Harris is anythin' like Cordy says he is, chances are he'll get you a new and even better one."  
  
"He can't afford it," both vampire and Slayer said simultaneously, before looking at each other as if World War III would break out - when they both started laughing.  
  
Harmony, who was asleep at her book-cluttered desk, suddenly woke up on hearing the laughter. "Cordy? Is that you?" the Homecoming Queen asked, half-asleep.  
  
"Who else?" Cordelia said with a smile, to her best friend. "Did you find anything on that demoness?"  
  
"Not really. I've gone through God knows how many books on demon species, and still found nothing. The closest thing I could find on beautiful human-looking demonesses with wings was a..."  
  
"Succubus," Alyssa muttered, ignoring the looks she was getting from the supernatural detectives. "Right. Met one a few times, up close and personal. But they have bat wings - not feathered wings."  
  
Ms. Kendall nodded. "Right, and according to the book, not only are they shape-shifters they're also the temptresses of Hell - but despite that, she  
  
couldn't have been a succubus because when accomplishing their duties, they  
  
use guile rather than force. Something about weapons taking all the  
  
pleasure out of killing..."  
  
"Meaning, we're back to square one?" Tara said, as she sat down on a couch  
  
in the lobby.  
  
"What about the tattoo?" Cordelia asked suddenly.  
  
"Oh, that was the easy part," Harmony responded. "It's the eight-pointed star of Chaos, which pretty much speaks for itself. But what its purpose is, that's the mystery. It could be symbolizing what she was doing? Then again, it could just be decorative. 'Cause one thing for sure, there are a lot of sheep - uh, I mean, girls showing their 'individuality' by getting tattoos these days," the blonde said with a smirk.  
  
Cordelia hid a small smile too, as Harmony's slip-up brought back memories almost forgotten - the day Cordelia had called her a sheep, as she'd stormed off to be with her one true love.  
  
Oh well, too bad she and Xander had never been destined to get the fairy-tale 'happily ever after' thing.  
  
"Well, it's been fun Chase, but I really need to get back to my geek in SunnyHell," Alyssa said, smirking.  
  
"*Your* geek? There is no way in hell that *my* particular dork is ever going to be your geek, Friedman," the vampiress retorted.  
  
"Whoa there, ladies," Doyle said, as he held his hands up. "We're all friends here, right?" he finished saying, when he realized that both were looking elsewhere.  
  
"Shut up," both women said to him without looking at the Irish half-demon, as they glared at each other.  
  
"Look, we've discussed this before-" Alyssa started to say.  
  
"I know that," Cordelia cut her off. "But it's *you* I'm suddenly worried about..."  
  
At the redhead's look, the brunette shrugged. "Say you're right, and you do succeed in seducing my love sooner rather than later. What exactly are you going to do, if it's my face he sees when he makes love to you? If it's my name he accidentally screams out, when he - you know? On account of Xander isn't the quiet type - trust me, he's a demon in the sack..."  
  
The words both alarmed and excited Alyssa, when Tara called out to them by the TV. "Uh, guys? You better listen to this..." the blonde Wiccan said, turning up the volume of the television set.  
  
"And in a big news item from Sunnydale, California, apparently the entire town has been quarantined due to an epidemic of, as strange at this may sound, laryngitis. It seems the town has been rendered unable to speak, and there's no word yet what might have caused this or what other effects might be seen from this epidemic."  
  
The announcer went on, "Local authorities have issued a statement – a written statement, I should say - blaming recent flu vaccinations. A few skeptics call it a citywide hoax. In the meantime, Sunnydale has effectively shut down all schools, businesses will be closed for the time  
  
being and residents are being advised to stay home and rest up."  
  
Then he finished, "The Center for Disease Control has ordered the entire town quarantined. No one can go in or out, until the syndrome is identified or the symptoms disappear. We'll bring you more on that as it develops..."  
  
"Alex," the Slayer murmured and before anyone could stop her, she made her way to the phone and dialed the number to the geeks' hideout.  
  
"What are you doing, Slayer?" Cordelia demanded. "Didn't you hear? No one can talk there on the Hellmouth."  
  
"I know that," the Jewish girl replied. "As a matter of fact, I'm counting on it," she added - while the entire staff of the Chasers for Hire detective agency looked at her, mystified.  
  
"Hello?" the redhead then barked into the phone. "Alex? Wesley? Whichever one of you clowns it is, you've really done it this time! I mean, honestly. I can't trust the two of you to take care of things while I'm gone? Get online now, and go to MSN Messenger - you know my username,"  
  
she ordered, while signaling to Tara to get on the computer and log onto the Internet. Before the Chosen One hung up the phone and made her way to the computer, not paying attention to the wide-eyed looks she was getting from the so-called detectives.  
  
Ms. Friedman didn't have to wait long after logging on when 'FugitiveWeasel' asked her, //Where the hell are you?//  
  
//Los Angeles,// Alyssa typed. //What's happened over there?//  
  
//Don't know,// was the response. //Last night, everything was normal. Then this morning when both of us woke up, we couldn't talk.//  
  
//Just like that?// the Slayer typed skeptically.  
  
//Yeah. Wesley's doing what he can to find out what it is, because it sure as hell isn't laryngitis or whatever crap they're talking about on TV. I was just about to head out to some of his informants, maybe see if they know anything.//  
  
//Okay. Email me if anything comes up, understand?// the Slayer typed.  
  
//No prob. BTW, where in LA are you?//  
  
//In a small hotel in what I understand used to be the heart of old Hollywood. And I know neither of you are going to listen to me when I ask you to do this, but please be careful! Over and out,// the Slayer typed, before logging off.  
  
Alyssa turned around, "Well, from the sound of what both Alex and KTLA are saying, it looks like I'm going to be staying a while with you guys. Hope it's no problem..."  
  
Cordelia looked at Harmony, then at Tara before returning to look at the redhead, smiling. "Of course it won't be a problem, Friedman. But there is the minor matter of receiving payment for services rendered..."  
  
"You take MasterCard?" Alyssa said, pulling out the credit card she'd "borrowed" from Wesley.  
  
"No," the female vampire said. "You're going to tell me everything I want to know..."  
  
~*~*~*  
  
"Oh, boy. You, you seriously followed him into the boys' restroom in high school?" Tara asked, as the girls had lunch in one of the hotel's dining rooms.  
  
"Well, I did want to give my cousin his head on a silver platter at the time, and there was no way I was going to let him think that I was too afraid to even go in there," Alyssa commented.  
  
"Then, what happened?" Harmony said, clearly wanting to hear every detail.  
  
"He, uh, tricked me. Alex escaped through the window, and somehow – he still won't tell me how - got from the top level we were on, to the bottom floor. Jumped a few fences, and he was home free. Made a complete fool out of me. Then as I turn around to leave, I come face to face with our principal, and he was not happy! Gave me, of all people, detention. I'd never had detention before, and I swore I'd kill him for it..."  
  
"And how is it that he's still alive?" Harmony asked, a little excited.  
  
"He talked to my Watcher, telling her that Angel was a vampire and not human. Of course, she forgot to mention that little fact to me, when I was ordered to forget about Alex! Probably because the idea of a good vampire would've more than likely confused the hell outta me, and gotten me killed," Alyssa said reflectively.  
  
"Her? She?" Tara said, a little confused after remembering Wesley.  
  
"My first Watcher was named Irene. She's the one that approached me way back when, with the 411 on being the Chosen One. Taught me some cool moves too, mainly because she taught self-defense classes. But that wasn't enough to stop Drusilla from killing her, when that bitch finally tracked down Alex."  
  
"So what happened to Drusilla?" Cordelia asked. It was a question that had been eating away at her, ever since the First had taunted her that Christmas. "All Xander told me was that she tortured him."  
  
"She's dust now" the Slayer confirmed, "but - okay, me and Alex were still at each other's throats then, and words were said during Halloween. He left, real hurt and Drusilla grabbed him with his guard down. I'm guessing that the reason why she didn't kill him straightaway was to torture him, as well as kill me for getting in the way between her and her 'kitten.' The way we found out was that the helmet to Alexander's costume was thrown through the window, and it had an address. Both Wesley and me went there to rescue him, finishing off the vampires as quietly as possible, and I fought Dru..."  
  
Alyssa shrugged. "But I lost. Only reason why I'm alive today, is because Wesley is a damn good shot with a crossbow."  
  
"How did he look - after?" Cordelia whispered.  
  
The Slayer sighed. "Real lousy. To tell you the truth, I didn't think he was going to make it at the time. But thankfully, he did. We started getting along after that."  
  
"You felt guilty over everything that happened?" Harmony asked speculatively.  
  
"That, too," Alyssa said, smiling. "And, uh, he sorta became infamous at Ness High after he ended up in the hospital. There were a lot of the in-crowd girls that were interested in dating him, but the "he's a loser" thing in their heads always won out. Of course, that didn't stop *me* from asking him out to the Prom."  
  
Harmony was caught up in her own memories at that special time, while her undead friend could not help thinking it should have been *her* that Xander took to that perfect high school moment...  
  
Ms. Friedman went on, "Of course at the time, we went just as friends, but he was getting to me. He has that way with people; hey, look at me! One of the campus queens of Ness High crushing on a geek, even going so far as to wear a teddy for him to catch his attention-"  
  
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Harmony squealed her interruption.  
  
Alyssa looked down at the floor, knowing without looking that Cordelia was barely restraining herself from trying to tear her heart out. "Yeah, all right, so I strutted my stuff a little in that red number at Victoria's Secret that one time. So what?"  
  
"Well, for starters, what happened afterwards?" asked Tara in wide-eyed wonder. This was so very different to any of the girl talks she'd ever had back home - not that that damned bitch of a cousin named Beth she had was worth a thing, in that regard.  
  
"Nothing happened," Alyssa remarked unhappily, as Cordelia relaxed slightly. "The big dummy didn't even realize what I was up to..."  
  
Harmony shook her head. "God, that is *so* like him. When is the big fashion-reject idiot ever going to learn about what women *really* want?"  
  
"HEY!!" both Cordelia and Alyssa said in unison, both for different reasons. Then the ensouled vampire looked at the Slayer, "If I know my man, he must have figured it out eventually - he's not *that* dumb, and your new Watcher probably decided to take mercy on him too. So?"  
  
Alyssa squirmed. "He said he liked me..."  
  
Cordelia felt like a wooden stake was being plunged into her heart, and she waited for her undead body to explode into ashes.  
  
"...but only as a friend. Don't worry, though; we talked, and I'm sure he listened to what I had to say. And I've still got plenty of tricks up my sleeve - one day soon, we'll be together. You just wait and see," the Jewish girl said stubbornly.  
  
The vampire would have sighed in relief, if she'd still been human. She hadn't lost her one true love to this woman - at least, not yet. 'But it'll happen eventually,' another more pessimistic part of her mind whispered.  
  
'And even if the Slayer here doesn't reel him in, Xander's basically available on the open market now. Another year, maybe two at the most - he'll have some bitch that isn't me hanging off his arm again. God, I know it has to be this way - but does it have to hurt so damn much?'  
  
Just then, Doyle came in and looked around. "Ladies. What's goin' on here, then?"  
  
"Girl talk," Harmony rolled her eyes at him. "Nothing that'll interest you. Go away, Doyle, we're busy..."  
  
"Ah, now, come on Princess - wouldn't you rather be discussing something more along the lines of you, me and a vacation in the Bahamas?"  
  
"Sure, in an alternate universe where *I* was the vampire, you were Matt Damon and *Cordelia* was the human around here," Harmony snapped back thoughtlessly, and winced at her best friend's glare. "Sorry, Cordy. But you know how he gets me all riled up like that..."  
  
Alyssa stared at Doyle thoughtfully. "Hey, weren't you supposed to be going out on a date tonight with a cop?"  
  
Doyle stared at Cordelia. "Well, if *someone* hadn't thought up that ridiculous installment plan to pay off me debts..."  
  
The vampire waved that aside. "Go home. Better yet, have a vision or something, unless you want Kate to know that the real reason why you canceled your date, was to chase after another girl who's a lot younger than her!"  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Los Angeles, California. December 12th, 1999  
  
The one thing that Alyssa really hated about these Hellmouth events was the waiting, but thankfully by midday, Alex and Wesley had sent her an email, and what was going on in Sunnydale did not look pretty.  
  
According to Giles's research, there were fairy-tale monsters in Sunnydale to kill seven people. Three people had already been murdered last night, their hearts ripped out in brutal slayings. And four more hearts were needed before the killings would stop. According to the information, these monsters could only be hurt or killed by the sound of the human voice of a real girl, which was the reason for the laryngitis.  
  
"You have *got* to be kidding me!" Harmony exclaimed, on hearing the news. "All it takes to kill these things, is the sound of someone screaming?"  
  
"Then it ought to be pretty simple, right? Someone just has to sneak in past the quarantine, and..." Cordelia started to say as she came from her room.  
  
"Hold on now, Cordy. What if just bein' there is enough to make ya lose your voice?" Doyle asked hesitantly.  
  
"Then I'm the one that's going to risk it. So I'm outta here," Alyssa said abruptly. Gathering up her things, she quickly made her way out of the Hyperion Hotel.   
  
"Hold on," the Jewish girl heard, as Cordelia called her.  
  
The Slayer paused, turning around long enough to see the vampiress running towards her. "Give this to him," the brunette said, handing the redhead a cassette tape.  
  
"Goodbye, and thanks for everything!" the Chosen One said to Cordelia before she turned around and left, heading towards the Slaymobil, not noticing the tears that were coming from Cordelia's eyes.  
  
"Good luck..." Tara whispered, as the Slayer set off for home.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
Sunnydale, California. December 13th, 1999  
  
Alyssa Friedman found it ridiculously easy to sneak back into the town built upon the Hellmouth. In fact, she found that some of the barricades were starting to be dismantled during her journey; and so she joyfully concluded that the worst was over.  
  
As the sunlight dawned and morning took place, the redhead arrived at the apartment shared by Wes and his friend and quickly entered. Alyssa saw Xander sitting down on the couch, a brooding expression on his face. Wesley was nearby, looking upset as well.   
  
The junior Slayer ran to her beloved, and as Xander got up she kissed him.  
  
Very intensely.   
  
Full on the mouth.   
  
Alyssa's heart then felt like it had broken into a million pieces, as Xander didn't respond at all. He didn't really even seem to notice what she was doing. Didn't...  
  
Pushing him away, the Chosen One asked, "What's wrong?" All the while thinking, 'Damn it, WHAT is it going to take to make you forget about Cordelia, and understand that I love you?!'  
  
Xander looked at his Slayer friend and said simply, "She knows."  
  
  
  
Alyssa was confused, and quickly realized Wesley was going to be of no help. "She knows? Who, and what, are you talking about?"  
  
  
  
Xander sighed. "Buffy knows I'm back."  
  
AN: Well the shit has hit the fan. And gave you guys a real big update. Enjoy 


	32. Doomed

Sunnydale, California. December 13th, 1999 

Storming into her dorm room, still angry over her unsuccessful quest the blonde vampire Slayer Buffy Summers was taken completely by surprise on seeing Willow half-arguing, half-engaging in conversation with Riley Finn, who quite possibly was one of the mysterious commandos the Scoobies had been sporadically encountering for months.

"Buffy!! I'm glad you're back," Willow exclaimed. "Riley here has been telling me some weird and, y'know, fantastic stories about you being really strong, and I..."

"It's okay, Will. He saw me 'working' in that clocktower last night," the Slayer said with a shrug.

"Oh! Okay, shutting up then," was the redhead's confused response.

"What are you?" Riley half-demanded to the Chosen One.

"Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius. You?" Buffy said, trying to keep the sarcasm down.

"Sorry. That came out a little blunter than I intended," Riley responded, trying to be civil. "It's just...you are amazing! Your speed, your strength..."

Buffy looked at him. "Also passionate, artistic and inquisitive. Who are you?"

"You know who I am. The rest...what I do...I can't tell you," the Iowa native said, shaking his head.

"Well, then, let me," the Chosen One said with a half-smile. "You're part of some military monster squad that captures - demons, vampires, probably have some official sounding euphemisms for them, like unfriendlies or non-sapiens."

"Hostile Sub Terrestrials," Riley nodded slowly, as Willow's eyes went wide.

"So you deliver these "HST's" to a bunch of lab coats, who perform experiments on them, which among other things turn some into harmless little bunnies," Buffy continued. "How am I doing so far?" she then said, after seeing how the so-called TA was looking at her.

"A little too well," the soldier responded uneasily.

"Meanwhile by day you pretend to be Riley Finn, corn-fed Iowa boy. Ever been to Iowa, Riley? God, if that's even your real name!" Buffy said inquisitively.

"It is, born and raised in Iowa as well. But hey, I'm not the only one who's been a little less than honest here."

"Now that's not fair!" Willow said in annoyance.

Buffy snorted. "And I was under the impression that a professional demon chaser like yourself would have figured it out by now. I'm the Slayer," the blonde said, as Willow also waited for the recognition to kick in.

However, the blank expression on Riley's face was not what either of them had expected. "Slay-er? The Chosen One," Buffy said, but Riley was still looking at her funny. "She who hangs out a lot in cemeteries?"

There was still no reaction from Riley. "You're kidding. Ask around, look it up. Slayer, comma, the!" Buffy said in exasperation.

"And you fight demons. I mean, you wailed on those guys. Is that why that other guy ran for it last night? I mean, the one that didn't look like a demon," Riley responded.

"Yeah, but that bastard won't be able to hide for long," Buffy said hotly.

"What's up now? Who are you guys talking about?" the Wicca asked, knowing something was wrong. Why else would her best friend be cranky, especially after getting their voices back?

"Xander's back," the Slayer spat out in utter disgust, remembering that foot chase from the night before where in some way she could not fathom he had been able to elude her.

"What!?" the Wiccan said as she jumped up from her bed, while Riley looked confused.

"You mean, that guy you ran after?" the soldier said.

Buffy immediately spun on him. "No, that vampire! He's not human, wasn't even when he had a pulse. Xander's a HST, to use your stupid terminology!" she snapped. Then the blonde freshman turned around,"See if you and Amy can locate him, Wills, because after all of this hiding I'm finally taking him down! Painfully."

"Oh, I doubt I'll be able to get Amy to help me anytime soon, Buffy. She and Percy disappeared last night, after he beat him up because he thought Spike was trying to kill Amy and they decided to - uh...fool around," the redhead babbled in embarrassment.

"Fool around?" the Slayer said, puzzled by her roommate's choice of words.

"You know," the former hacker squirmed. "As in where a guy, uh, loses his soul?"

"Oh! Right. That fooling around," the blonde Slayer said, also now somewhat embarrassed. "Well, do you think you can find him without Amy?" Buffy then asked hopefully.

"Now that he's close by, I betcha I can," Willow answered with a smile, eager to show off her magic ability. Then she got a funny look, "You don't think Xander's come back with some kind of plan to attack or kill us, do you?"

Buffy shook her head. "No way, as a human Xander always was an idiot. So as a vamp, I don't really see any potential for improvement! He's just literally dead meat-"

But the Slayer was unable to finish her comment, as it was then that the whole room began to shake with an earthquake.

"Over here!" the Iowan said to the girls, as he pointed to the open closet door, and the three of them stood in the doorframe until the earth stopped shaking.

"Wow. That was some ride!" Riley said, as they all walked out back into the room. "Sorry I'm so excited," the soldier then shrugged, explaining his reaction. "This is my first earthquake..."

"It's not mine," an uneasy-looking Buffy said.

* * *

Wolfram and Hart building, Los Angeles, California. December 13th, 1999

As she glanced at her wristwatch nervously, Lilah tried to keep from panicking as the elevator rose to the 18th floor. 'Where did it go all wrong?' the brunette lawyer thought, as the doors opened and the woman walked towards the conference room.

The conference room where the much-dreaded meeting she would be having with Holland Manners and the staff from her department would be taking place, which could quite possibly be the last thing she ever did.

All because an assassin that was in no way connected with the firm had killed the two Oracles, that the Senior Partners wanted brought in for questioning, in the hopes that they could reveal the whereabouts of the 'Tarakan initiates' that had assassinated Russell Winters!

'How the hell was I supposed to know that an assassin would go after them?' Lilah thought furiously while entering the conference room, as her mind raced desperately for an explanation that would get her through the day alive.

"Thank you for arriving on time, Lilah," Holland Manners said politely, as the woman sat down next to Lindsey and Lee. The female inwardly shivered...

Holland went on, "Well, let's get started. As the three of you are very well aware, the Senior Partners, especially the Chairman have taken a very keen interest in the assassins that...dealt with Russell Winters," the man almost hesitated. "An interest that merited sending one of their best warriors, Vocah, to find and retrieve them. Of course, as of now he is missing and presumed dead. And how that's possible we have no idea, since we were all under the assumption that Vocah was invincible."

The three lawyers sat silently, listening.

"Perhaps you don't know, but recent events at the Home Office are making things look even bleaker for us here at this branch. In light of the fact that one vitally important soul was - well, captured by a Celestial raiding party. A soul that according to some vague prophecies is going to be a major player in the upcoming The Apocalypse."

"Who exactly was this particular soul?" Lindsey asked instantly.

"Originally, an Irish one named Liam," a dark-haired woman next to Holland said. "More commonly known as the avatar of Angel, the vampire cursed with a soul by gypsies, who was staked a little more then a year ago during a battle with the Slayer to prevent this world being sucked into hell."

All three junior lawyers sucked in a breath, startled.

"I see you've never heard of that situation. Well, as the vampire Angelus, he was quite easily the worst vampire that ever existed. Now, the prophecies don't agree on whose side this vampire would have been on, but nevertheless he would have been an important factor. How, exactly, we have no idea..."

"Would have been?" demanded Lilah.

The woman smiled. "Perhaps still will be. As Angel or Angelus."

"Thank you, Gwen," Linwood Murrow commented absently to the woman in charge of Files and Records; when it was obvious she would say nothing more. "Alright, now let's not beat around the bush anymore. The thing was, the Senior Partners were planning to resurrect Liam as a human being, and then turn him into a vampire once again-"

"But now that he's been captured by the enemy, you can forget that," Lindsey interrupted.

"Which in turn means the Senior Partners won't have their major player, and aren't going to be very pleased," Lilah added.

"Which doesn't bode well for any of us," Lee finished up.

Linwood smiled. "Of course, interesting enough we are currently experiencing a few small setbacks with a team of private detectives, which is being headed by another vampire with a soul called Cordelia Chase. We don't know what importance she will play, if any in The Apocalypse so we're starting to watch her. They're a minor nuisance right now - but given time, they could be a major obstacle, or she could be an asset for our cause."

"And I needn't remind any of you that the loss of Liam is a major setback. However, if the Russell Winters assassins are found, that would benefit our cause - to the point that the loss of Angel's soul would be seen as just a minor inconvenience to the Senior Partners, who would doubtlessly reward all of us very generously with more then just our lives" Nathan Reid said. "Which brings us to...the Oracles."

Upon hearing that term, Lilah grew very uncomfortable.

"Lilah, you were assigned the job of gathering information from the Oracles by whatever means necessary that would enable the assassins capture" Nathan continued, as Lilah tried to stay calm. "However, circumstances now prevent us from being able to utilize their abilities, as a result of your failure."

Upon hearing this, Lilah opened her purse and was about to grab the gun she carried in there for protection when Holland grabbed her wrist. "Now granted, I admire deviousness in having others lose face, but this failure was brought about by a treasonous act to all of us. I have to say, this is a shame. It's just a shame that this hurts me personally Lee."

"What? I don't understand," the male lawyer said nervously.

"Did you actually believe we wouldn't find out? It's become common knowledge now that you've been in secret talks with Klein and Gabler, Lee. I'm sure you were aware that they handle cases for the Enemy. You were also the one that told them about the Winters assassins and their link as well as about us wanting to use those Oracles, since it was Teraxus that sent the assassin after the Oracles." Holland said calmly, nodding his head.

"No! They approached me-" Lee half-pleaded, before he was grabbed from behind his neck by one of the tall, insect-like demons that served as Elite Guards for the law firm.

"Take him to the Pockla clinic," Nathan Reid commanded the guard.

"PLEASE…" Lee screamed as the demon; bearing on its head a tattoo of a Serpent coiled around a Skull-dragged away the struggling lawyer.

"Terminating an employee is never pleasant. But at least he'll help Sean Oaks' daughter get that heart transplant she's been needing, making this into a rather positive event for someone" Holland said, ignoring the freaked looks from Lilah and Lindsey. "Now, I don't believe I need to impress the urgency of this situation upon you two, especially since the Chairman of the Senior Partners himself has taken a very direct interest in this."

"Which means no one's job is safe. Even the rest of the Senior Partners aren't safe from the wrath of the Chairman right now, which is why we need to find those assassins," Linwood snarled.

"And fast," Nathan shrugged, adjusting his glasses "Otherwise the 1926 Review will look more like Christmas at the Cleaver Home once he's done with all of us. Human and Demon."

Holland just raised his eyebrows. "I have complete faith that you two, working together, will not fail to find them. Wouldn't you say?"

"Yes, Holland," the two lawyers stammered in unison, before beating a hasty retreat out of that damned hellish room.

* * *

Sunnydale, California. December 13th, 1999 Twenty minutes earlier

"How did it happen?" the Jewish girl demanded of Xander, wanting to hear how the inevitable had finally occurred.

"We got careless, I'm afraid," Wesley, said, somewhat ashamed.

"The Brats came over, ready to help out as usual-" Xander started to explain.

"And also as usual, there was no sense in arguing with them that they can't help sometimes," the Watcher added.

"So we got our weapons, made Chloe and Dawn swear to stick close to us every second, and then wandered around for a bit."

"And that's how Buffy saw you?" Alyssa asked Xander, shaking her head. "She saw you wandering around-"

"No, it's not that simple. What happened was that while we were near this clock tower, we were attacked by some kind of demons wearing straightjackets - I later learned that they were the Footmen, servants to the higher demons called the Gentlemen. And I'm sure it'll be no surprise to you that the Brats fired upon them at once," Wesley continued.

"They're definitely getting better, Lys," Xander said with a shrug. "It doesn't feel like we'd be safer fighting alongside evil anymore..."

"Anyway, while the Brats were shooting the Footmen, us two Clowns got our act going," Wesley said, smirking at his Slayer as he reminded Alyssa about the comment she made when she called them in LA.

"I decapitated one of the Igor-looking things. Dead as a dodo. Wesley ran another through, his falchion buried to the hilt. If it wasn't a life threatening situation, it would be funny, seeing him trying to get his sword out of the footman's corpse."

"That's when we saw it," Wesley said with a sigh. "There were two Gentlemen gliding at least six inches off the ground, and one of them was carrying a human heart in a jar. You're lucky you didn't see them, Lys. They were enough to give anyone permanent nightmares! Grinning with that horrible rictus smile...they went into the clocktower-"

"And then what?" the redheaded Slayer demanded.

Xander and Wesley looked at each other, and released identical sighs. Xander and Wesley looked at each other, and released identical sighs. "I went in after them," Xander said, referring to the Gentleman. "Besides, it was Wesley's turn to baby-sit," he then added, smirking at Wes.

"You know perfectly well that it was your turn!" Wesley argued.

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was-"

"Will you two shut up!" the Slayer demanded, not amused by their behavior.

"He started it," Wesley pointed at Xander, smirking.

"Uh-uh. More like he did," Xander pointed at Wesley, smirking as well before he heard the redhead cracking her knuckles, the expression on her face showing she was losing her patience with the both of them.

"Anyway, while Harris here went in, myself and the Brats managed to whittle the Gentlemen's Footmen down to the last man. And he decided on flight rather than fight, with the Brats chasing after him. There are times when I worry that their over-eagerness to help will get them killed; and since the last thing we need is Buffy, Cordelia, and Mrs. Summers skinning us alive for getting their family dead, I went after them."

"Yeah, effectively abandoning me to Buffy."

"You're still here in one piece, aren't you?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah, no thanks to you," Xander shot back.

"Oh, for the last time, it wasn't my fault. Besides, there was no way I could have warned you, and look on the bright side. At least she didn't see us together...otherwise, she'd be here right now, eager to start Xander Season, followed by Wesley Season."

"Hey, I wasn't the one that decided to send those postcards to her. Especially the one where you thanked her for the vacation" Xander reminded the Englishman.

"True, I'm blaming your bad influence for encouraging me" Wesley countered.

"Oh sure, blame it all on me."

"Will the two of you grow up?" the red head shouted, a serious expression on her face.

"Grow up?" Wesley said.

"I am not very familiar with the term Lys" Xander said.

"Why am I not surprised" the Slayer commented dryly.

Grinning, Xander continued "Anyway I made my way in, and encountered another member of the Quasimodo fan club. Soon as he saw me he ran for it and I chased after him. I followed him around a corner; and next thing you know, I'm running for it because he's got about six or seven friends chasing after me now."

"Here's where it gets interesting," Wesley interrupted.

"Yep, no sooner than I'm able to get up the stairs, that's when one of the commandos and Buffy both enter the tower, fighting the Footmen. Then after both of them finish off the Igors', they get ready to kill each other, and then stop. I'm guessin' from how they looked at each other, they weren't expecting to see one another."

"Then what?" Alyssa asked, very interested on what happened next.

"The lady or the tiger," Wesley said.

"Both came up the stairs, meaning I had to choose between Buffy or the Gentlemen. And if you ask me, Lys, that decision was one of the toughest ones I've ever made. I had slow and painful death by having all my bones broken, or slow and painful death by having my heart torn out."

"That's pretty droll of you," the Jewish girl commented.

"Hey, you wanted the details!" Xander said with a shrug. "Anyway, as soon as I rushed into their lair, the Gentlemen were on me - meaning, I had to fight them off."

"How did you manage that? I mean, the 'no weapons can kill them' thing?" Alyssa reminded him.

The Scooby Gang exile smiled, "True, but just because I couldn't kill them doesn't mean I couldn't keep them away from me. Yeah, if you happen to have something like, oh say a mace, and then it's a whole new ball game. Literally."

"In other words, batter up," Wesley added, grinning as well.

"You didn't?" Alyssa breathed.

"You're not the only slugger around here, Lys," Xander said with a tiny smile.

The Slayer couldn't help but laugh at the images in her head, of the one and only Alexander Harris swinging his mace around to bat away the Gentlemen. "And then?" she asked, more interested then ever.

"Buffy and Commando Boy arrived. Both started fighting some of the Gentlemen I'd batted away from me. She never even noticed me, until my luck took its usual turn for the worst. One of the Gentlemen I whacked away crashed onto the table where they had the hearts in glass jars. And sitting next to them was a box that contained everyone's voices..."

"So when he crashed onto the table, he knocked the box over and it opened," Alyssa finished up.

"Pretty much. And with that racket, Buffy turned around and saw me. And let me tell you, she sounded pissed...especially when she screamed out "XANDER!!!" That would have been the end of me, if she hadn't realized that she had actually spoken. And the Gentlemen's heads exploding all around us also helped provide the distraction for me to shoot for the stairs, and give me a good head start"  
"Head start?" the redhead wondered. "Are you telling me that she chased after you?"

* * *

A few hours earlier

Xander Harris ran.

He ran like the Devil himself was on his tail. He ran past the Sun Cinema on Main Street, as well as Uncle Bob's Magic Cabinet in the downtown square, Decker Hardware, and Meyer Sport & Tackle. Through alleys knocking down trashcans and anything else he could use to delay his pursuer from catching him when he came to the April Fool's clothing store.

And that was when disaster struck.

Because Xander ran full-tilt, into a former classmate at Sunnydale High.

But this wasn't just any former classmate; this was the girl once known as Nancy Doyle. And she was now a vampire, as a result of a wrong turn after Graduation over six months ago.

"Xander Harris?" she asked in amazement. "I thought you were dead!"

"Nancy?" the former Razorback swimmer asked in similar amazement as they picked themselves up. "Uh, no, I'm not - but what the hell are you doing here?"

The brunette girl shrugged. "Just doing some late-night shopping at April Fool's."

Harris just stared at her. "At two o'clock in the morning?" The vamped schoolgirl then went into game face, and the confusion cleared up. "Oh. Riiiiight..."

And at that moment, the Slayer Buffy Summers arrived on the scene. "XANDER! You're just delaying the inevitable-" Then she saw Nancy, and frowned in disgust. "Oh, great. You found yourself another vamp girlfriend?"

"Ex-squeeze me?" Spike's one-time date to a frat party said indignantly. "I do have standards, you know..."

Xander looked between the two of them. "Hello? Standing right here!"

There was no more time for words; the soulless vampire attacked the blonde Slayer, and a vicious fight broke out. Harris decided not to stick around, and bolted as the duel began; several times Nancy almost got the upper hand, "You are such a bitch, you know that? Even in high school, you had to act so superior?"

"Oh, like you're one to talk, annoying Miss-Know-It-All! Just because I knew some answers in Ms. Murray's lit class that day-"

The Nancy vampire screamed, and began pummeling her enemy. But eventually, a police cruiser arrived; its siren and flashing lights breaking up the fight. "Another time, Slayer!" the vampiress hissed, and vanished into the shadows.

Buffy wasted no time on a pointless reply, and disappeared herself before the Sunnydale PD could spot her.

* * *

"There are times when I wonder if you have more lives than a cat," the Jewish Chosen One said, shaking her head.

"Believe me that thought has occurred to me as well. So, how was LA?"

"It went well. They even have a night life over there so it kept me in practice, aside from the shopping I did."

"H-how much did you run up this time?" Wesley said, cringing at the thought of the young woman's tastes.

"Less than three hundred bucks," she responded cheerfully. "See, I'm showing restraint."

"This time," Wesley muttered darkly.

"Well, I don't know about the two of you, but I'm really tired. Especially after my Oscar-worthy performance last night of 'The Fugitive', so I'm hitting the sack."

'Oh no you don't,' the redhead thought. "Alex, there's something I have to say..."

A little wary after her kissing him, Xander started moving back at once. "Uh, look Lys...about that kiss..."

"I'm not going to hurt you...this time," Alyssa said in annoyance and a little hurt.

"Look, Lys. I've already told you..."

"Yeah, yeah, but let me finish first. In the hotel I stayed at, I met some new friends; and one of them made this for you in particular," Alyssa said, handing Xander the audio cassette tape Cordelia had given her. "I haven't heard it, but she said you should listen to it," the girl added before she turned around and walked past Wesley towards his room, kicking off her shoes in the process, clearly tired from the drive.

"Alyssa? What are you…." Wesley started

"What does it look like I'm doing Wes? I've been up since 3AM, I'm tired and I'm taking your bed" she snapped.

Taking the tape, Xander looked at it curiously. It was labeled 'To Xander.' 'Probably one of her new friends wanting to talk to me,' the guy thought, as he returned to his room with the tape.

Putting the tape in his stereo, Xander pushed play and sat down on his bed waiting for the message.

The messenger was not who he'd expected.

"GOD DAMN IT, DWEEB BOY! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? That girl has been sending so many damn signals lately, that she wants you. I mean, giving you a private show at Victoria's Secret screams at you, don't you think?"

'C-C-Cordy?' Xander thought in wonderment.

"Granted, I think that it's very damn sweet of you wanting to remain faithful to me. But let's face reality; you're human, I'm not, and there's no way I'll ever turn back into my old self. You and I both know all it takes is for you to say those three little words, and I'm right back to being the undead Bitch Queen of Sunnydale. And I don't want us to repeat the mistake Buffy and Angel made..."

There was a choking sound, before Cordelia went on, "Because if we do, others will pay the price before it gets resolved. People like your parents, your baby sister, my sister, Red, your goofball friend, my friends. The list could go on and on. Honey, it's not doing either of us any good to pretend anymore. We have to move on, even though I still want you in my life. So I was kind of wondering that since we can't be boyfriend and girlfriend anymore, I do happen to have an opening for a best friend. You interested?"

"Of course I'm interested, dummy," Xander muttered.

"And if you're wondering, yeah, I'm okay with you dating her. She's obviously crazy about you. Granted, she's a Slayer and that means a life expectancy shorter than that of a Spinal Tap drummer, whatever she may happen to think. But then again, this girl seems smart for the average Slayer and knows how to dress, shop, and seems to think that you'll be able to keep her alive while she keeps you in line. All I'm saying is, give her a chance. Yes, it'll hurt like hell to know you're with her...but it will also be of the good to know that my geek boy is being taken care of. I better hear something from either of you soon, comprende? And tell her that she better take good care of you, too. Until next time."

'I love you, Cordy. And you'll always be my first love,' Xander thought, 'But you're also right, as usual...' He got up from the bed, and exited his room. 'Guess I gotta move on, and she hasn't made her attraction to me secret these days…and she is attractive.'

Entering Wesley's room, Xander made his way to Alyssa's sleeping form. "Lys?" he said, shaking her awake.

"What?" she groaned.

"We need to talk."

"Right now?"

"Yeah. And lemme tell you, this has been quite the week for me. Your little show at Vicky's Secret, you taking the Enterprise-"

"Slaymobile!" the Slayer said, blushing slightly at that memory.

"Our car to LA. My Grandparents Me not recognizing my aunt, following her makeover. Finding out my mom's a witch-"

"Huh?" the redhead said, feigning ignorance.

"Oh, let's just say that with my parents there is more to the saying 'bringing work home with you' than you'd anticipate. The incident with the Gentlemen, Buffy finding out that I'm back. And then there's this tape from Cordy."

"I take it you know my new friends, then?" she said, smiling innocently.

Xander groaned. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, do you have any plans for tomorrow night? Because if not, I can make us some dinner...unless of course you might want to go out for some coffee or even a movie, or-"

"Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to come around, you...you...you big dork? Of course I'll go out on a date with you!!" the redhead said, hugging him.

And that was when the earth started to shake.

* * *

Apartment B, 523 Oak Park Street

"Something horrible is going to happen, Giles!" the blonde Chosen One told her former Watcher, as she paced back and forth in the condo's living room.

"Buffy, it was just an earthquake. A not-exactly-uncommon occurrence, in southern California. There's, um, no particular reason for us to think it was anything more," Sunnydale High's librarian said, acting unconcerned.

"Oh, I so have a reason Giles! A damn good one too. The last time we had an earthquake, I died!" Buffy stated emphatically.

"Yes, I know that - and therefore I completely understand your anxiety," Giles continued, still unconcerned and more-or-less humoring her.

"Well, good. Because I'd hate for my little untimely horrible death concern to be considered ambiguous in any way," Buffy said, half-sarcastic.

"Don't be silly. But, really, unless evidence suggests otherwise, I think that we can assume that it's all due to the shifting landmasses and not a portent of some imminent doom. Now in the meantime, I've got a few theories about our mysterious commando friends..." the ex-Watcher said, as he lifted up a map of Sunnydale on a board with red pins stuck on it in clusters and placed it on the table.

His words immediately brought up thoughts of Riley. "Oh. Really?" Buffy said uncertainly, as she sat down.

"Yes. Now based on the locations of our various sightings, and - Spike's rather reluctant description of their underground installation..."

"But what if the quake was a sign?" Buffy said, wanting to change the subject for some reason and doing so, as she jumped up. "Ah, a bad omen and we just ignore it? There would be a lot of embarrassed red faces if the world comes to an end, y'know, i-if I was right along..."

"Buffy," Giles said tiredly as he got up, "if the quake heralds some such catastrophe, I'm sure there will be many other signs to follow, like what happened back in 1997. Which will afford us plenty of time to avert it. Now - as I was saying, I believe that the commando installation is either very close to, or directly underneath your school campus; and if that is the case, I'm convinced that one or more of them may be in your very midst..."

"Xander!" Buffy suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" a confused Giles said.

"This earthquake happens around the same time Vamp Xander comes back," Buffy said with sudden conviction. "Oh my God…that's it - he's going to try to destroy the world..."

"Buffy!" a stern Giles said. "The idea of Xander coming here to bring about an apocalypse, is...is preposterous. I mean, why come here to end it all, when he knows very well from personal experience the odds are that he won't succeed? And factor in that you personally have it in for him..."

"He's a vampire," Buffy shrugged. "I mean, who can really understand the mind of a vampire? They're not only dead; a lot of 'em are also brain-dead. Of which he is a prime example."

"Now, now, there is no way Xander could bring about the end of the world, Buffy. Apocalypses are, are not as easy to bring about as you may think - and if he's as dumb as you say he is, then he wouldn't even know how to start one. Besides, his main concerns right now would be feeding, and avoiding you - seeing that you have it in for him," Giles said, marveling at how much his former charge had managed to forget.

After all, it had been barely a few years ago that Xander had known something was wrong and had followed her, that night when she and two other girls were about to be sacrificed to a frat-house demon...

All of a sudden, a shout came out of the master bedroom upstairs. Giles got up in a panic as Jenny yelled, "Rupert, call an ambulance! It's the baby!!"

* * *

Beneath Lowell House, UC Sunnydale

"You ever heard of the Slayer?" Riley Finn asked his best friend Forrest Gates, as they walked through the Initiative's holding cell block.

"Sure. They're a thrash band. An anvil-handed guitar band with delusions of Black Sabbath," Forrest responded.  
"No. I mean the Slayer - as in a girl, with super-powers," Riley corrected him, hoping to clear up the confusion.

"Oh. That Slayer. Well, yeah, I've heard of the Slayer," Forrest said, wondering where his buddy was heading with this.  
"Care to fill me in?"

Agent Gates shrugged. "Well, the way I got it figured the Slayer is like some kind of bogeyman for the sub-terrestrials, something they tell their little spawn to make them eat their vegetables and clean up their slime pits."

Riley had a strange expression on his face. "So you're telling me she doesn't exist"  
"Uh-oh. Are you one of those that still believe in Santa Claus and the Easter bunny?" the black Initiative agent retorted, laughing. "Sorry Rye, but it's a myth. All part of that medieval folklore garbage kooks dream up, to explain things we deal with every day," he continued, while seeing a scientist leading a demon down the hall. "Okay, smart guy, so how do you explain the things we're dealing with? Well, Forrest?" Riley demanded.

The soldier showed his pitiful ignorance of reality. "They're just animals, man, plain and simple. Granted they're a little rarer than the ones you grew up with on that little farm in Smallville..." Forrest said, before the two agents heard the commotion being made by the demon that had broken free of its restraints, the scientist fumbling with the syringe.

Both Initiative agents raced to subdue the would-be escapee. As Forrest struggled with the demon, Riley grabbed the escorting guard's nightstick and hit the demon on the head. 'And stay down!'

"So much for that, Einstein," Forrest commented to the lab coat, in regards to his tardiness with the syringe. "It's like I was telling you, Rye. Animals...what the hell?" he said, looking at the other cells as the captured demons began banging on their cell doors.  
"Right, just the animals rattling their cages. They've been doing it all day, and it makes me wonder what's got them all worked up," Finn said with another strange expression.

"It happens with earthquakes, buddy. They'll make anybody crazy, human or not," Forrest replied.

"True. Okay, here's another one for you. If these things are animals, then what does that make that bat-winged chick?" Riley inquired.

"You mean the so-called HST that escaped, right?" Forrest said, a frown appearing.

"That's the one. 'Cause no way the animal excuse is gonna fly with her; I was there, I talked to her. And she talked back, with that weird Russian accent. She looked far too close to human, for my liking; and what the hell, she could also easily have posed for Maxim," Riley commented.

"Yeah, if you're into wings coming out of a woman's back," Forrest commented with another shrug.

* * *

Sunnydale General Hospital, 2:47 P.M.

"How is she?" a concerned Willow asked Buffy, as soon as she entered the waiting room with Amy and Percy.

"Okay so far," Buffy answered. "It just goes to show what the miracles of modern science and magic can accomplish together. Giles is with her right now, and frankly I've never seen him this nervous before. When Jenny told him to call the hospital, he was petrified. But then again, it isn't every day you become a daddy."

"Wow. Even after nine months, I still can't believe Jenny was pregnant," Willow commented, suddenly missing Oz terribly.

"Now that's denial. And where were you two?" the Slayer suddenly asked the other happy couple present.

"We found a dead guy," Percy started, straight to the point.

"Excuse me?" Buffy said, with an odd look.

"We were at this aftershock party, like celebrating the fact that we got our voices back? And Amy found a guy, propped up, like whatever killed him wanted to drain the blood out of him," Percy promptly reported.

"Yeah, and don't forget the pyramid and eye carved into his chest!" Amy added in.  
"Tell me about this symbol," Buffy demanded at once, knowing now that she'd been right about a new apocalypse on the way.

"It was like this big, nasty-looking eye carved right into the dude. Kind of like the CBS logo," Percy started to say.  
"Really? Huh. I know I've seen something like that somewhere before, but where..." Buffy stated, before being interrupted by a nervously worried Giles, a cup of hot coffee in hand to calm him.

"Amy, Percy, can you please repeat what you said about the symbol?' he asked, anxiety in his voice due to his wife's labor and this new development.

The two teens repeated what they had told the Slayer, and raised their eyes when Giles sighed. "It's the end of the world."

"Again?" all four college students asked, as Giles nodded.

"I told you. I-I said end of the world, and you're all like 'poo-poo, southern California, poo-poo'!" Buffy said nervously.

"So sorry," Giles snorted sarcastically. "My contrition, as well as my wife's condition, completely dwarfs the impending apocalypse."

"Uh, maybe it's kinda dumb, but how do you know it's the real end-of-everything deal?" Amy asked.

"Well, after we dealt with the Jhe Sisterhood and their slithering leader at Graduation, I thought it might be wise to research any other 'End of Days' groups," Giles shrugged. "And if I'm right, what you describe is a cult of Vahrall demons attempting to bring about the apocalypse."

"But i-it can't be. Not today!" Willow pleaded.

"Believe me, I agree wholeheartedly with you there, Willow," Giles said with a nod and a sigh. "So, what do we do?" Percy asked.

"I stop it," Buffy stated, her voice calm. "And if I'm lucky, Xander will be there to get all dusty when I stop it! Will, see if you can get ahold of your cousin. She may be new at this, but we'll still need her and everyone else's help. Even Wesley's."

* * *

Wesley and Xander's apartment

"Well, Lys, what do you say - tomorrow at six, on your night off?" Xander said, as he still held onto the redheaded Slayer as they laid down on the couch conversing, focused on each other.

"I'm good with that," the Chicago native replied, refusing to let go of him, even though she was no longer shook up over the more recent earthquake.

Xander nodded. "So Lys, have you ever tried..." he started to say, before the ringing phone interrupted him.

"I'LL GET IT!" Wesley shouted from the kitchen.

"Maybe Lilah's finally returning his calls. Which'll be followed by more phone sex, that'll last over an hour," Xander muttered, shaking his head. Referring to how worried Wesley was, as he'd been trying to call his girlfriend's cell phone after the first quake.

"Eh, at least it keeps him out of trouble," Alyssa commented, trying not to see that image.

"Lys, it's for you. It's Willow!" the Englishman shouted.

"Shit," Xander cursed.

"Relax! She's probably just calling to see if I'm okay," the Jewish girl said, reassuring him before picking up the phone. "Hello...? Yeah, I'm okay Wills...as a matter of fact; I just got back about less then half an hour ago. I was in LA, then the quarantine took effect so I couldn't get back...oh, are you serious?" she said, looking at Xander.

'What's wrong?' he mouthed at her.

"Yeah, I'll be right over!" Alyssa said ice in her voice as she hung up the phone.

"Was that about me?" Xander asked, worry on his face.

"Does it always have to be about you, wise guy?" the Chosen One commented, smiling. "Apparently though, some demons are going to try and end the world tomorrow."

"And you find that amusing? Lys, trust me on this. Apocalypses do tend to happen once in a while..." Xander said.

"It's not that," the Slayer interrupted, smirking. "What I find amusing is that some demons think they'll be able to end the world, right when I have you where I want you!" she said.

"Need help?" Wesley asked.

"Now that I think about it, yeah. We need to find out where these Varmall..."

"I think you meant Vahrall, didn't you?" Wesley said a frown on his face.

"Thank you, Wesley, the Vahrall demon schmucks. While Alex goes about finding them, find out everything you can about their ceremony while I join the others. They'll do a ceremony, right?" Alyssa asked.

"There's always a ceremony," Xander replied.

* * *

Willy's Place

"I hope this isn't a mistake?" Xander asked himself, gripping the hilt of his katana as he opened the door and stepped into a bar some 20 minutes later. Entering the establishment, Xander noticed an attractive, busty barmaid wiping off the counter.

"Scram, kid. You don't look anywhere near twenty-one," the titillatingly-dressed barmaid said.

"Yeah, well, I'm not here for that. Where's Willy?" Xander asked.

"It depends on what you need," the barmaid said sternly. "Because if you even think about trying to hurt him-"

"Its okay, Xenobia, I doubt he's gonna cause any trouble," a voice said from behind Xander.

Hearing that, Xander turned around and was face-to-face with the information source he was looking for. Willy shrugged, "How ya doing, kid? I guess the rumors about you were false, huh?"

"What rumors?" Xander asked with curiosity.

"The ones that had you being a vampire, on account of that psycho Drusilla catching up with you," Willy said.

"I would have been if not for some friends, Willy, but right now I really need some information," Xander said.

"You and the rest of SunnyHell's night life, kiddo," Willy responded, contempt in his words.

"Look, Willy. In case you didn't know, somewhere out there there's some Vahrall demons that want to open the Hellmouth. I need to know where they're at. I'll even make it worth your while..." Xander said, holding out a small wad of folded bills.

Taking the money from Xander's hand, Willy unfolded them and stayed somewhat transfixed for a few seconds at the image of five Benjamin Franklin's staring at him.

"Sorry kid, but I don't know where they're holed up," Willy said. But before Xander could protest he continued, "But I do know that they're going to get the final things they need to start the ceremony tonight… Saves them a trip since what they're looking for is at the Hellmouth itself."

"And this thing they're looking for?" Xander asked.

"A talisman called the Word of Valios" Xenobia said.

"The Word of Valios. All right, but what makes you think it's at Sunnydale High" Xander asked the Barmaid skeptically.

"Because I remember hearing about the High School Librarian buying it at a Sorcerer's Estate Sale" Xenobia said matter of factly.

"Thanks Willy," Xander started to say, holding out his hand for the snitch to shake. The barkeep extended his hand and as he shook it, became aware that he felt something brushing against it. "For your Alzheimer's prescription," Xander said as he let go and started making his way out of the bar to the Hellmouth, when he heard Willy call behind him.

"Hey, kid? I don't mind youse paying me for the 4-1-1, but what do you mean by Alzheimer's?"

"It's real simple, Willy. It's to make sure that you get Alzheimer's about you ever seeing me since last year, especially to Buffy," Xander smirked, before turning around and leaving the bar. 'Besides, you should be thanking her for paying you,' he thought as he left the bar, leaving Willy in the bar, looking at the Ben Franklin's in his hand, then at his barmaid, smiling.

* * *

UC Sunnydale

Looking at the crude representation of Sunnydale on her dorm room floor, Willow Rosenberg wondered if she should even bother trying the locator spell on Xander. Even though he was most likely still in Sunnydale, Willow had her doubts on whether the spell was going to work.

But then again, he was in Sunnydale at the moment - so maybe proximity was a factor, and if that was the case she wouldn't need to wait for Amy. With some new confidence, Willow began chanting the arcane words of the spell to find Xander, mist forming in the model.

Once she finished the last of the spell's words, a glowing blue dot began to emit near downtown Sunnydale. "I did it," the Jewish Wiccan murmured to herself before shouting out "I DID IT!!" and dancing excitedly.

Quickly remembering her goal, Willow reverted her attention back towards the model, her eyes transfixed on the moving blue dot as it seemed to be heading towards the suburbs. Willow reached for the phone and began dialing Buffy's phone number.

* * *

1630 Revello Drive

'This is ridiculous,' Alyssa thought, as the argument between Spike and Buffy intensified. The world was going to end, and the only thing both blondes could do was argue over who had more claim to her Alex?

Looking at the rest of the posse in the Summers home, Alyssa noticed Percy and Amy were making out, completely oblivious to the argument. Realizing that she was wasting her time, Alyssa pulled out her cell phone and was about to dial Xander's cell - when it began to ring.

"Hello?" the Slayer said.

"Lys, we got trouble!" Xander told the redhead. "The Vahralls only need one final ingredient for their ceremony tonight, and it's at the Hellmouth itself!" Xander said.

"Are you sure?" Alyssa asked quietly.

"It's what my source says, Lys. So get over here ASAP. I'm gonna delay them, and hopefully they haven't got Wesley yet," Xander said before he hung up.

"Who was it, Lys?" Alyssa's roommate asked.

"That was Wesley," Alyssa lied to her companions. "He just found out that one of the items the demons need to open the Hellmouth, it's at the library." However, before the Jewish Slayer could continue the land-line phone rang.

"Hello?" Buffy quickly answered it.

"I found him, Buffy! I know where Xander is. My spell worked!" Willow said.

"Really! Where is he?" Buffy demanded.

"He's heading for the high school," Willow said excitedly.

"Thanks, Wills. I'll meet ya there!" Buffy said before hanging up.

* * *

Sunnydale High

Xander ran as fast as he could towards the library, hoping that he wasn't too late to prevent the Vahrall demons from ending the world. Reaching the entrance, he stole a glance through the window of the double doors – and became worried by what he saw.

In the middle of the library where the Hellmouth was, Xander saw that the floor was cracked - and surrounding the fissure in the floor, stood the three Vahrall demons. Plus, lying on the floor near them was Wesley.

Whether he was dead or alive, Xander didn't know - but it was obvious that time had run out. Opening the library entrance door with one hand and his mace with the other hand, Harris charged at the demons, twirling his mace over his head.

Xander charged at the nearest demon, swinging his mace and hitting the demon on the back of its head with a sickening crunch - resulting with the apocalypse demon collapsing onto the floor, its skull crushed.

As the demon hit the floor, Xander swung his mace at the next adversary, who happened to be holding a vial of blood, hitting it in the chest and sending it rolling into the Hellmouth itself. As the demon fell into the abyss, the ground began to shake.

As the earth shook - Xander, who had momentarily forgotten about the last of the Vahrall demons, felt a sharp pain on his back that resulted in him dropping his mace. Then before he could recover, the former Slayerette felt himself being grabbed and then thrown towards a table.

As he painfully picked himself up from the remains of the table, Xander suddenly felt a powerful grip on his neck that picked him up; and then he saw himself face to face with the last Vahrall demon.

"Interesting method of killing, human," the demon said to him, holding his mace in its hand. "But not as gratifying as using your own bare hands!" it spoke, as it then tossed Xander's mace into the Hellmouth.

Then before Xander knew it, the Vahrall demon began to squeeze the life out of him. Instinctively Xander's reaction was to grab at the demon's wrist with both of his hands; but it was to no avail. But just as suddenly as he had begun, the Vahrall demon eased his grab on Xander.

"You should feel honored, human. Along with me, you shall be part of the sacrifice that will usher in the Reign of Fire!" it said while looking at Harris, before picking up a bag of bones as it began to move towards the Hellmouth.

"Sorry to interrupt ya there, mate, but he happens to be mine," Xander heard a British accent announce; and next thing he knew the Vahrall demon had been knocked to the ground, leaving him free. Looking behind himself, Xander was surprised on seeing that his rescuer was a strangely happy Spike, holding his head.

"No pain..." the vampire announced to no one in particular, looking like he'd had an epiphany. "I can hurt demons!" the British undead then said, clearly overjoyed by this new revelation.

The blonde vampire's face changed into its attack form, yelling "I'm back, and I'm a BLOODY ANIMAL!" as he stared at Xander, smiling.

However, before the vampire could reach Xander, the Vahrall demon punched Spike in face, and then picking him up the demon threw Spike clear across the library into the book checkout.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Xander drew out his katana and immediately attacked the demon, slashing its chest then quickly inverting the blade to thrust it into the demon's chest.

But the demon didn't fall. Instead, it looked really pissed off at Xander. Growling, the Vahrall grabbed Xander's katana with one hand and struck at it with his other, breaking the blade. Holding his now useless blade, Xander immediately thrust into the Vahrall's neck, killing it instantly.

Looking at the body of the dead demon, Xander failed to notice Spike punch him in the jaw, sending him tumbling to the floor and clutching his head and yelling a barrage of curses. Infuriated, Xander got up from the floor and slugged the swearing vampire in the chest, followed by a right cross to his face and finishing with a left uppercut to his face, knocking him off of his feet.

Grabbing Spike by the collar of his duster, Harris then picked up the neutered vampire, punched him in the face again and again before letting him go - where the vampire proceeded to fall face first onto the ground.

His anger gone, Xander went to check up on Wesley; but before he could move towards him, Harris heard his cell phone ringing. "Get out of there. Now. Buffy's on her way!" Alyssa said, before the Slayer hung up.

Turning around, Xander ran into the stacks and climbed up and out the window - just as Buffy stormed into the library, followed by Willow and the rest of her posse. And then came Alyssa, who immediately moved towards Wesley to check up on him, who thankfully was alive.

Not finding her quarry in the library, Buffy walked up to Spike, picked him off the ground and pressed him against the wall, a stake against his heart. "I told you he was mine, Spike. There's no dust around; so what did you do to him?" she demanded angrily.

Spike's reaction was not what Buffy had expected. As he began laughing... "What did I do to him?" Spike said. "I'll tell you what I did to him, Slayer. Bloody well nothing!"

Buffy let Spike go, but he continued, pacing around the library. "I couldn't rip his head off or tie him to a cross and give him cigarette burns, let alone kick the bloody shit of him...because he's human. He's a GODDAMN NUMMY TREAT, which just goes to show how fucking unfair my fucking unlife is! Do you know how much time I wasted, dreaming up ways on how I was going to torture his arse? I missed "Passions" for that. Do you know how bloody wrong that is? Do you? I MISSED "PASSIONS" FOR NOTHING!"

However, Buffy was no longer paying any attention to Spike's tantrum. "Where is he, Wills?" Buffy demanded.

"I don't know," the Wiccan said simply.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Buffy demanded of her best friend.

"The spell's not working anymore. I think maybe it's my proximity to the Hellmouth," Willow said.

The expression on Buffy's face was anything but pretty.

* * *

17619 White Oak Drive. December 14th, 1999

Buffy Summers was way pissed.

'Xander's still human?' The thought still rocked her to the core. 'How the hell is that possible? Cordelia said he was a vampire - and I thought for sure that was all I needed to slay him now, for what he did to Angel and me! Well, never mind. I know where he's at. I mean, it's so obvious where. He can't hide from me anymore...'

Arriving at the Harris residence, she banged on the door, and Mrs. Harris answered it. But before the older blonde could even say anything Buffy stormed into the house, the many small miscellaneous items Mr. Harris had brought home with him from the magic shop radiating magic that overwhelmed the Slayer's senses.

Xander's mom, who was rather annoyed of course, simply said, "Excuse you, young lady..."

Buffy ignored that, saying, "Where is he?!"

"Where's who?"

"That no-good, two-faced, son of a bitch with the infamous Harris genes we both know!" Buffy shouted, meaning Xander.

Ariel sighed, then said, "Oh...him. Down the hall, second door on the right..."

Just then, both women heard a baby crying. Ariel tutted and appearing to forget about her visitor went off to nurse her infant daughter Mia. In the meanwhile, Buffy headed towards the room in question with great anticipation in her heart.

Opening the door, the blonde warrior for the Light made her way to the man who she was sure was Xander, lying there in the bed. 'At long last, I've got you just where I want you. Payback is a Bitch...'

She was about to punch him with a Slayer-strength blow - and hopefully knock out the first of many of his teeth out - when the male member of the Harris clan woke up loudly, and turned on the light.

And Buffy saw that the half-naked man was not Xander, but rather an older-looking man.

Still somewhat sleepy and disoriented, the man said, "Back for another royal love-fest, Tigress?" And before she could stop him...the man wrapped an arm around the Buffster and brought her down close to him, smiling all the while.

'EWW! EWW! EWW!' Buffy's mind was screaming in horror, now wanting nothing more than to get the hell outta the room. When suddenly, the man noticed Buffy was not his 'Tigress'.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded, looking into her face.

But before Buffy could say anything, or even get loose...Xander's aunt, wearing just a towel and dripping wet, came into the room. As Lory saw the scene before her, she quite understandably yelled out, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?! What do you two think you're doing?"

Buffy was horribly embarrassed, but Xander's uncle Rory of course was more worried than anything else. "I don't know, sweetie. I-I-I thought she was you..." he started to tell her.

The look in Lory's eyes would have cut her fiancée in half.

In an unconscious move for self-preservation Rory pushed Buffy away, then pulled the covers over himself and quickly whimpered a half-meaningless prayer.

The half-naked woman crossed her arms against her chest as she glared at the blonde and called out to her sister, "Ariel! Who in hell is this woman?"

It didn't take long for Xander's mom to arrive, still nursing Mia. Frowning as she looked at Buffy and then her sister's face, she replied, "Well, I never got a name; but just by looking at her, she's obviously one of Rory's druggy stripper ex-girlfriends. I told you, sis, he's more trouble than he's worth..."

The Chosen One was floored by that comment; but before she could indignantly respond, Xander's aunt Lory then looked at the young freshman in question and with venom in her voice said, "Listen, you skank. I don't care what kind of history the two of you had together. He's mine now. Mine, mine, mine!"

Lory went on, "I also don't care if you let him treat you like his own personal plaything, and I especially don't care if he'd gotten you knocked up some time ago or if you want him back. If...if I catch your cheap, sleazy, anorexic, fashion-victim self near my man again - I'll stick a restraining order so far up your backside, you'll think you were born with a log up your ass!!"

Buffy started to splutter; embarrassed by Rory's hug, the speculation from Xander's mom that she was a stripper (and a druggy) as well as Lory's understandable threats at her misunderstanding of the situation. "No, we're not...I never...we never...I-I-I didn't come here for that! I didn't even know it was him in here!"

Looking away from her daughter to the Slayer, Ariel frowned. "Then who were you looking for?"

"Xander, of course! Where is he?" the blonde Slayer questioned her.

Lory was still mad. "How should I know? He left town ages ago, missy! Without even telling us where he was going - and from what I understand, you had something to do with it, if you're who I think you are. Now get out of this house, before someone calls the cops! And since I work in the D.A.'s office, trust me - things will not go well for you, if the Sunnydale PD gets involved here..."

Chastened, Buffy started to leave, promising herself there would come another time to continue the Xander-hunt here. She passed by a closet, and heard a whimper behind its doorway near the front entrance.

Buffy was elated. She knew they had been lying! 'It has to be Xander! Who else would be whimpering behind a closet like that?' She smiled, and yanked open the door...only to see an old man sitting down, eyes closed and rocking himself back and forth.

The old man stopped rocking himself and slowly opened his eyes, looking at Buffy, appearing like he was really freaked out. "No, wait, honey - please..."

But when he saw who it was, he relaxed a little. "Oh, thank God..." Then the old man grabbed Buffy's hands and brought her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her legs and he began to beg the Slayer, "Please, don't let her find me..."

"Wha-?" Buffy said, more confused by the older gentleman's behavior when she then heard a woman say in a singsong tone, "Oh, pookie. Pookie...don't make me come out there after you! Where are you hiding, Gene? It's time to take your medicine...LIKE A MAN! SKIP OUT ON YOUR DIET, WILL YOU?"

Xander's grandfather shivered as he let go of the elder Summers girl, grabbed the doorknob and then closed it slowly and as silently as possible, whimpering all the while. As if on cue, Buffy saw an older woman; wearing a slinky, black halter vest dress and matching thong emerge from the kitchen, smiling as she looked for her husband.

On seeing the provocatively-dressed mature woman, Buffy felt disgust on seeing Xander's grandmother trying to look young again and was about to let her know what she thought of her right now when the succubus said in a loud voice, "Okay, that does it lover boy. I hope those pastries were worth it - because until further notice our daily sex-fest is off, and I was so looking forward to you covering me up with whipped cream and chocolate syrup..."

The expression on Buffy's face was not pretty once she heard what the grandparents were still doing, but before she could do anything else she then heard Xander's mother shout out "MOTHER!!!" in a shocked, reprimanding voice. "You know very well that Dad can't eat things like that. It's bad for his arteries..."

Buffy, of course, was by this time completely freaked out over the weirdness of the Harris family members she had met today as well as the strongly oogy, kinky sex drives of his grandparents, and hurriedly left what she had now mentally dubbed the "Nut House" as fast as her feet could possibly carry her.

As soon as the front door had slammed shut, the sisters looked at each other, and then started giggling after they high-fived. Ariel said laughingly, "My goodness. Did you see the look on her face?"

"How couldn't I?" her sibling laughed. The half-demon sisters began to giggle again, when Ariel calmed down a bit, saying to Lory, "And call me curious, but Tigress?"

The legal working part-demon blushed and said to her sister, "Don't ask. But I can tell you that getting the chance to chew that Slayer out was well worth your rather loud telepathic interruption to my shower! Good plan by the way, sis. Odds are she'll think twice before coming here looking for him now..."

Ariel sighed, "No thanks to me. If I hadn't let myself get distracted with Robert and the handcuffs, the dispel hex I put on Willow's locator spell wouldn't have run out."

"You're being too hard on yourself," her sister said. "Look on the bright side, your son is still safe."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. By the way - did you really have to scare your man like that, though?"

Lory shrugged. "I'm just pretty much letting my Rory know that even though I believe him when he says he loves me, I'm still keeping an eye on him. It also shows Mom that he's being trained. Besides, I love making him squirm...and after he finishes the groveling and 'convinces' me that he was 'innocent' this time around, there's always the makeup sex!"

After Xander's aunt said that, she stopped...then she smirked at her sibling, smiled and practically hauled ass to the bedroom, the towel starting to come loose and slamming the door along the way.

Ariel smiled on seeing her sister act exactly like a lovesick schoolgirl, when her train of thought was interrupted by her mother coming up to her from behind and saying, "Do you know where your father's hiding, Ari?"

"Yes I do," the nurse responded. "And if you used your telepathy to find him rather than scare him with the punishments you're projecting into his head, you'd find him too."

"Spoilsport," the succubus responded, smirking. Her daughter definitely still needed to learn about dealing with men..

Authors Note: Sorry I haven't updated this story, but real life takes its toll. If anyone is curious about pics of the extra characters cast or of the Grandma's dress, let me know.


	33. Showdown

Sunnydale, California. December 15th, 1999

Buffy was mentally kicking herself. Why hadn't she thought of it sooner? If there was one person who would know where Xander was, it would be Willy the snitch. Entering the empty bar, the Slayer stalked towards Willy – who began cringing away, once he saw her.

"Where is he?" the blonde demanded.

"Where's who?" Willy retorted.

"You know who!" Buffy said, matter-of-factly.

"I hate to break it to you, Slayer, but I don't!" Willy lied, thinking about the hush money Harris had given him as he stepped back - when the front door opened. Not wanting to be interrupted, Buffy turned her head around and saw a busty and familiar-looking brunette woman enter the bar.

"I'm sorry, but Willy's real busy right now - so take a hike!" Buffy snarled, before turning her head back to the bartender. "I'm talking about Xander, Willy. There's no way anything happens in Sunnydale, without you knowing about it. Xander's back in town and you're going to tell me where he's holed up!"

"I'm telling you, Slayer, I don't know anything!" Willy said, continuing to back away from her, but Buffy grabbed him by the shirt collar.

"I'm gonna have to punch you a lot, aren't I?" Ms. Summers said coldly, before she felt something wrap itself around her body and it became difficult to breathe.

Before she knew it, Buffy felt herself being turned around and coming face to face with a six-armed woman with the body of a snake below her waist. 'Oh, no - what-? It can't be!' That was why the woman had looked so familiar!' Buffy thought.

"Don't even try to hurt my studmuffin!" the Slayer heard the demon say angrily.

It was that very same demon from Graduation. The one that she had been unable to even hurt, despite help from Willow, Amy and even Cordelia. Luckily Jenny Giles had been able to affect its mind somehow, so that it had left Graduation confused but the fact that they were never able to injure unnerved her.

Interestingly enough, even though Buffy had no way of knowing it, Xenobia had been hit with a form of amnesia; which was probably permanent. And after being hit with that mojo, Xenobia had wandered around Sunnydale for a couple of hours when Willy of all people had found her, and taken her in.

As a result, Xenobia had developed some feelings for Willy, out of thinking he'd saved her and the relationship had blossomed ever since; but the fact remained that the Scoobies had been unable to even hurt this unknown demon. And right now, the Slayer wondered just how she was going to get out of this one.

"I'm thinkin' youse can let her go now, Xenobia," Willy said to his barmaid. "Anyone can tell she's gotten the idea!"

Instead of letting her go as her "studmuffin" had asked, the demoness merely relaxed her grip on Buffy, allowing the Slayer to breathe easier. Xenobia then smiled at her paramour, making Buffy feel sick - as she could practically see little hearts floating around the barmaid's eyes towards Willy.

"Now as I was sayin', Slayer? I dunno where your old buddy Xander's holed up," Willy said. 'On account of he's paying me to have Alzheimer's, which is something you'd never do' he thought. "But if I was him, I'd get away from here to friendlier waters if you was after me!" the snitch whispered fervently. "Besides, why would he want to stay here for? You pretty much have a kill on sight thing for him and his girlfriend's a vampire who he probably still thinks is evil. Now, if you don't mind Slayer, I got work to do - because this here establishment isn't going to run itself. Xenobia, could you please see her out?"

"You got it, sexy thang," the demoness sighed, guiding the still-enwrapped Buffy to the exit with her tail before letting go.

"Willy? There's still one thing I want to know, regarding your barmaid," Buffy called out to the bartender.

"Okay, what?" Willy said.

"Where did you meet her?" Buffy asked.

"He saved my life like a knight in shining armor," the demoness said in a lovestruck tone of voice - one that made Buffy want to hurl.

"Well, I was heading home after closing the place one lunchtime - and I saw her crossing the street. But for some reason she seemed kind of...well, spacey, because she didn't see the bus that was heading right towards her."

"He was SO gallant," Xenobia said. "Pushing me out of the way like that. He's my hero!"

"You definitely never met anyone like Angel, then..." Buffy muttered under her breath, as she was unceremoniously evicted from the establishment.

Apartment of Wesley and Xander. A short while later

After averting an apocalypse, one would think that you would be entitled to a well-deserved R&R. Unfortunately; this was not the case for one Alexander Harris and Alyssa Friedman, as their cuddling session was interrupted by the Slayer's cell phone. Annoyed, the junior Slayer answered her phone, "Hello?"

"Lys, it's Buffy. Just so you know, I'm going to be outta town for a few days - so until I get back, you're pretty much gonna have your work cut out for you, covering for the both of us-"

"Where are you going?" the Rachael Leigh Cook look-a-like asked at once.

"Xander hunting," Buffy responded, the icy tone evident at the mention of her ex-friend.

"Oh. Well - happy hunting, then," the redhead said, smirking at Xander. Who just raised his eyebrows, wondering what was going on.

"There's one other thing," Buffy said to Alyssa. "Can I borrow your car?"

"What? Well, lemme put it like this. Do you see any pigs flying, Buffy?" Alyssa said sarcastically.

"Come on! Why not?" Buffy demanded.

"I don't know, wait - let's ask Wesley. You were the one who borrowed his car without his permission! Don't you remember? It was the night those mysterious dents appeared..."

"Hey, that happened while I was Slaying!" Buffy retorted defensively.

"Yeah, but that excuse just doesn't cut it with the insurance company," Alyssa said with a shrug. "Besides, I doubt your mom wants another car repair bill! I'm sorry, Buffy, but the answer's no," the redhead said, before hanging up the phone.

"Now, where were we?" the Slayer said to her potential boyfriend, resting her head back on his chest as she felt his arm rest on her upper body.

Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles, California. December 15th, 1999. 7:04 pm

"I thought you were my best bud, Wills? Buffy pouted to her so-called best friend, as she closed the car door.

"And how many times do I have to keep reminding you, that Giles let us borrow his car only on the condition that I wouldn't let you drive?" Willow replied, as she closed her car door.

"Come on, Willow! How would he ever even find out?" the Slayer said, while waiting for her friend to get on the sidewalk.

"Uh, he'd look for the dents," the Wicca said matter-of-factly, before walking into the building. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Willow said to her best friend.

"Of course it is! Willy made a good point, y'know. Why would Xander stay in Sunnydale, when I'm there? Besides, he's also bound to find about that Cordy's got her soul back sooner or later, so we're here to tell her to stay away from him."

"Aren't you worried she won't like what you'll tell her?" Willow said.

"I'm hoping so. Besides, what makes you think I should worry about her Will? I mean, back then she was more of an annoyance than a threat!" Buffy said, right before they came to the front desk.

"Can I help you?" an unfamiliar blonde girl asked the Slayer and witch.

"Yes, we'd like to see Cordelia Chase," Willow said.

"Do you have an appointment?" the secretary asked politely.

"No," was the redhead's response.

"Well, if you'll just sit down for a few minutes, I'll let her know you're here-" the blonde said...when Buffy stormed past the reception desk towards the office with CORDELIA CHASE written on the door. Then she opened the door and walked in, coming face to face with Cordelia.

Both girls looked at each other in silence.

"Well, I'd never thought I'd ever see the day YOU would ever stop by for a visit," the female vampire with a soul said sarcastically, eyeing the new arrival with distaste.

"You'd be surprised, Cordelia. Things change," Buffy said frostily. "Look, I'll get right to the point. Xander's back, and we both know what'll happen if the two of you get together again-" she started to say.

"So why are you here telling me? I thought you hated me as much as you hate him," Cordelia said, playing along. Just from what Buffy had told her, Cordelia had already figured out that the Slayer had no idea that they had already met. And the memories of their forgotten day were enough to make Cordelia feel...well, tingly all over.

"Because whether I like it or not, you did sort of save my life during graduation. So, fair's fair; I feel that I should at least warn you of what I'm going to do, if I even hear that the two of you have seen each other again," Buffy said.

"Are you trying to threaten me?" Cordelia asked, sounding bored.

"Maybe," Buffy said, obviously not liking her tone.

"And what would you do if I told you I'd already seen Xander?" Cordelia said matter-of-factly.

"Find out where he is, of course. And just so ya know, I'd beat it out of you if I had to," the Slayer said, sure of herself and her abilities.

"That'll be the day," Cordelia said, looking down at Buffy with a sneer. "And what are you planning to do when you find Xander, anyway - hurt him? Kill him? I kinda doubt it. On account of the Sunnydale cops would just love to lock you up what with your history regarding Ted the robot, and Kendra! And just so you know, I saw Xander just a few weeks ago," the vampiress commented, baiting the Slayer.

"When? Where?" the Slayer snarled.

"In Sunnydale during Thanksgiving," Cordelia said simply. Starting to push buttons.

"You're lying!" Buffy seethed.

"Hmmm. Maybe," Cordelia said, trying to appear ambivalent.

Unfortunately, the senior Slayer didn't fall for it. "What were you doing there?" Buffy demanded.

"Visiting my sister Chloe, remember her?" Cordelia stated. "That's when I saw Xander fighting a demon. You gotta hand it to him, Buffy. If nothing else, my one true love knows how to hold his own now-"

"You know exactly where he's at, don't you?" Buffy said, or rather demanded.

"Like I said, maybe," Cordelia replied. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to tell you."

"That's it. Start coughing up, and I do mean NOW!" the Slayer shouted, throwing herself across Cordelia's desk, wanting nothing more than to beat up on the former girlfriend of the object of her vengeance.

Unfortunately for Ms. Summers, Cordelia was no longer the spoiled socialite she'd once been. And so both supernatural women began fighting in the office, slugging it out in the confined space - when Cordelia got in a lucky strike, slam-punching Buffy out of her office and into the lobby. Cordy then followed after the Slayer, her face vamped out.

"BUFFY!" Willow cried as she saw her best friend fly out of Cordelia's private office. On seeing the girl that had stolen her former best friend march out after the fallen Slayer, Willow's eyes went black as she started performing the incantation that would finally put the damned bitch in her place.

A ball of fire began to grow in the palm of her hand. "IGNIS!" Willow growled as she threw the ball of fire at the vampiress.

The fireball sped towards Cordelia, but before it could destroy the former May Queen it disappeared a few feet from hitting her.

Willow looked in disbelief at where seconds before her spell was racing towards the final destruction of Cordelia. 'How did she that?' she wondered. The redhead then looked behind herself; and that was when she saw the blonde secretary, her own eyes black as well.

"Th-that isn't playing fair," Tara said, preparing a defensive incantation as Willow prepared another spell of her own.

"You, you vampire-loving bitch..." Willow wanted to scream, lost in the magicks and pissed over how her attack had been thwarted that way. The cosmic irony over how their relationship might have otherwise developed completely lost on the redhead.

The area around the two witches began to glow as Willow and Tara engaged in their eldritch battle, while Buffy and Cordelia continued with their slug-fest - which quickly escalated as each woman tried to out-punch, out-kick and out-magick the other. The only thing missing was the mud pit and revealing clothes, and Xander snacking on some popcorn and enjoying the show with Alyssa at his side.

But then suddenly someone shouted out, "DO WE HAVE A PROBLEM HERE?"

All four women turned towards source of the shout, only to see an unhappy-looking Kate Lockley, gun drawn and a bag of groceries on the floor next to her.

Cordelia shifted her face back to her human guise while Tara's eyes reverted back to their natural color. Buffy and Willow just stared at the policewoman, unsure of who she was.

"I don't really care what's going on between the four of you, but after that thing with the Scourge - Doyle needs his rest! So go settle this somewhere else!" Kate semi-snarled.

The female cop then holstered her gun, and picked up a grocery bag and made her way to the stairs while saying, "Because any more racket, and I'll bring all of you in for disturbing the peace. Is that clear?"

"Has it occurred to you that he's just faking it for the attention?" Cordelia hollered after the departing blonde. Her mind briefly going back to the night when she'd used the Gem of Amara to stop that damned light bomb going off, and knocking Doyle out before he could kill himself rather then seriously injure himself.

'Does she even know he's half-demon?' the undead woman then wondered, before bringing her attention back to the Slayer. "Look Buffy, all I know is that my beloved is somewhere back in SunnyHell, and whether you believe me or not - I don't know where he's hiding out."

"Oh, please!" Buffy said, her voice laced with sarcasm. "You mean to tell me that a "private investigator" like you hasn't been able to track him down? And here I thought that it'd be a piece of cake for you to track down losers!"

"You can believe whatever you want. Knowing that Xander's still alive is enough for me, and I don't want the extra temptation of going to him when things get rough around here," Cordelia lied.

"Well, I for one find that pretty hard to believe!" Willow remarked.

"Oh gee, Willow, really? And do you also think that Xander wants to repeat a certain someone's BIG mistake, way back when?" Cordelia responded, as Buffy inadvertently flushed with embarrassment. "Besides, he might have moved on by now - guys are like that, unfortunately. And believe it or not I have important work to do, so both of you - TAKE A HIKE!" she shouted, pointed towards the Hyperion's front doors.

Kingman's Bluff, Sunnydale. One hour earlier

"Alexander Lavelle Harris! When you said that we were going out on a date yesterday, I was under the impression that we were going out for your typical dinner and a movie," Alyssa Friedman said, appearing annoyed. "Not a candlelight picnic with Depeche Mode playing!"

"Are you disappointed?" Xander said sheepishly.

"Disappointed? No, actually I think it's kinda sweet," the Slayer said, eyes sparkling and the faux anger disappearing. "So what did kind of entrée did you whip up for us?" Alyssa asked as she sat down on her date's Voltron blanket.

"How does Madame feel about creating her own sandwich?" Xander said, opening up the picnic basket. "Consider what you wish on your sandwich to be your command."

Alyssa giggled. "You can be such a goofball!"

"I resent that remark," Xander said in mock pain.

"Oh, stop it. There's nothing to get upset about. It just so happens that I like goofballs!" Alyssa said, moving closer to him.

"Since when?" Xander said, moving closer. His lips were only centimeters from hers.

"Since our Prom date," the redhead said, moving to kiss him - when they heard the snap of a twig, or something like it.

The next few moments were a bit of a blur to the Chosen One. Moving away from her beloved, she got a glimpse of men - or what appeared to be man-like shapes anyway; but their faces were horribly scarred and mutilated, their eyes and mouths gone and runes of some sort in place.

But despite their lack of vision, they had knives and were obviously moving like they knew how to use them.

Despite Alyssa's supernatural strength and Xander's own fighting abilities the of Bringers of the First Evil were able to separate the duo by sheer numbers; rendering Xander unconscious and allowing them to escape with Xander while three Bringers kept Alyssa away from pursuing them and their prize.

To say that Alyssa Friedman was upset over the fact that these unknown agents of evil had interrupted her date with Xander was understatement. In reality she was mad and seeing those beings carry away her date caused something inside of Alyssa to snap which allowed her to quickly overcome three Bringers that were left, leaving her to pursue her date's kidnappers.

She followed their trail, leading her towards a cave.

This was not good.

Grabbing her cellphone, Alyssa speed dialed Wesley's number informing him of the situation and telling him not to take long before hanging up.

Twenty long minutes later, Wesley arrived. He handed Alyssa an axe and flashlight while he unsheathed his falchion. "Shall we?" he grinned at her.

"Yes, let's" Alyssa leading the charge to rescue her date, unaware of the figures that were observing them enter the cave.

The first thing that Xander Harris felt upon awakening was that he had huge headache. Then it occurred to him that he had no idea where he was. He tried to get up, but quickly noticed that he was in terrible pain. The room he was in was only dimly lit by torchlight; he was still able to see the silhouettes of what could only have been his attackers. 'This doesn't look good' he thought.

"Leave us" he heard an oddly familiar voice say behind him. As his attackers left the chamber that he was in Xander turned around towards the source of the voice and came face to face with Jesse.

"I would say 'welcome' but then again that would be a lie," Jesse said, smiling.

"Strange. What's a column doing here?" the Slayer commented, spotting the rubble in the cave.

"I don't know, but whatever took Alex went through here" Wesley said, lighting the way with his flashlight. The duo stepped through the natural arch and entered a vast grotto when the shaft of light beaming from Wesley's flashlight landed on more columns and wreckage. Slayer and Watcher started to examine their new findings.

"What is that?" Alyssa asked quietly, pointing to what appeared to be a statue in the middle of a ruined chapel to their right.

"My God" Wesley whispered as Alyssa saw him point his flashlight around the grotto, illuminating the ruins of a temple scattered throughout the immense cavern grotto. "It can't be."

"What?" Alyssa said, noting the awe in Wesley's words as he made his way into the chapel.

"If I'm right, this is what's left of what nearly ended the world in 1932. It's the Temple of Proserpexa" Wesley said, looking at the statue.

"Who's Proserpexa?" the Slayer said.

"A she-demon that is pretty high up there in the demonic hierarchy" Wesley stated.

"How high?" Alyssa asked.

"I don't exactly remember, but somewhere in the Top Ten… or even Five" he responded. "Oh my. Would you look at these" Wesley said to Alyssa, pointing to the murals next to him. Moving closer, Wesley examined the first mural, trying to interpret the story surrounding him.

The first mural depicted a shadowy figure with blazing red eyes sitting on a distorted throne, surrounded by what appeared to be demons of some sort and things that matched the description of what had captured Alex.

"Wesley, we need to find Alex," the Jewish Slayer said.

"I know…and from what you've described to me, Alex's kidnappers were the Bringers of the First Evil. If Proserpexa was involved, these murals may contain clues that'll help us. Try to understand, the First Evil was _bad_, but Proserpexa's followers tried to destroy the world."

"Fine" Alyssa said, knowing she wasn't going to win this argument. "Just don't lose focus as to why we're here," she said before leaving.

Looking at the next mural, Wesley continued to decipher the story, and a massive war between the demons, what seemed to be feral vampires, and Alexander's kidnappers charging at the behest of their shadowy master unfolded before their eyes.

The next painting caught Wesley's interest, as it depicted a delegation of demons meeting with angels in what could only be Heaven. Aside from the fact that a meeting between these forces was practically unheard of, the leader of the demonic forces was allowed to carry his personal sidearm, a flail of some sort, _without restriction_. Unlike the previous murals though, this one actually had what must have been a name scrawled beneath the mural… faded with time.

'This is fascinating… but what does it have to do with Proserpexa?' Wesley wondered. The next mural showed a large force of angels descending from Heaven with the demons, and the leader of the angels arguing with a female angel who had a large force standing behind her on one side - as the demon leader looked on from the other side. Under the painting was a space under both male leaders in Latin. The space under the demon read "Mephistopheles" while under the Deva read "Lucifer."

"My God" Wesley muttered out loud. "The Fall of Lucifer Lightbringer." The Watcher reexamined the mural, hoping to understand it better, when he realized who the female angel was. However, if he was to present this information to religious officials he would most likely be denounced as a heretic. 'But who else could it be? Two angels, one with reason and the other with pride which will damn them all.'

Now more interested then he was originally Wesley viewed the next picture with interest, noting the angels and demons fighting side by side in a massive war against the shadowy ruler, who could only have been the First Evil since the enemies of this unlikely alliance looked like the Bringers of the First Evil. Under the painting was a single word, "Uprising."

Looking at the next painting, Wesley saw Lucifer wielding the weapon of Mephistopheles against the First Evil in what no doubt was the final battle of the Uprising.

Moving on Wesley saw Lucifer casting down the First Evil, but at a terrible price. The mural conveyed the message of Lucifer and his followers becoming warped from the fighting, losing their angelic essence. In the end they became no different from the monsters they'd slain, and took their place alongside their demonic allies.

Lucifer, or what appeared to be a demonic version of him anyway, was depicted on the next mural as sitting on the distorted throne of the deposed First Evil, with the Mephistopheles standing next to him as a right hand, his flail at his side.

The next mural revealed to him why these murals were in this temple in that it showed the dark marriage between the demoness - Proserpexa - and Lucifer's right hand Mephistopheles.

The next mural showed Proserpexa giving birth to male twins. Curiously, none of the twins were named. Instead there were two pictograms, one being a serpent coiled around a snake and the other an eight-pointed star.

The next mural showed Mephistopheles's twin children murdering their father in his throne room, his flail flying from the demon lord's hand out the window, as a what appeared to be a horrified Proserpexa looked on. Under the mural the word 'Apocalypse' was prominent, preceded by illegible words.

The final painting showed the twins plunging the realm into civil war seeing that each proclaimed themselves their father's successor. 'Blood War' was written under the mural.

"So you're the pawn that staked the mighty Angelus. To tell the truth, I was expecting someone… stronger, taller" Jesse said. "Not someone as pathetic like you" Jesse said, morphing into Angel.

"Who are you?" Xander asked.

"I'm the one whose plans you ruined" Angel spat out. "If it wasn't for you, Acathla would've opened up a gate to Hell, allowing the demons entrance into your world" the vampire said before morphing into Drusilla. "Thanks to your meddling, not only is the awful Slayer still alive but now there are two of the naughty Slayers and you killed daddy."

"Hey! You have a funny way of showing gratitude" Xander snidely remarked.

"Do I? I'm impressed. You don't frighten easily do you" Drusilla said, morphing into the Master.

"Not really, especially after having to deal with things like you for the past three years" Xander commented.

"You think you can fight me? I'm not a demon, little man. I'm something that you couldn't even conceive of. I'm The First Evil. Beyond sin, beyond death. I am the thing that darkness fears. You'll never see me, but I am everywhere. Every being, every thought, every drop of hate. You have no idea what you're dealing with," the Master said.

"Do I really need to?" Xander remarked sarcastically.

"Not really" the First Evil stated. "But that doesn't mean you're getting out of your duty" the First said, morphing into Cordelia. "CALEB" the image of Xander's dead girlfriend yelled. "Take this loser to the altar in the main chamber and sacrifice him to me"

"As you wish" the defrocked priest said in the shadows.

Giles Residence, Sunnydale. December 15th, 1999. 8:49 pm

As Ethan Rayne and Jenny Giles sat down on the couch, Jenny started rocking her infant daughter while Giles brought a bottle of Corona to his former friend.

Someone had come to Sunnydale to impart a message of great importance, but on seeing the messenger, Giles had reacted with a well-placed kick to the groin before he could receive the "white flag".

"Ah, thank you! Now isn't this more fun than kicking my arse, Ripper?" the British chaos- worshipper asked.

Both husband and wife responded with the same answer, "No."

Ethan smirked. "Already know what the significant other's going to say beforehand and all that, do you? Looks like the married life did change ya at that, old man."

"Just tell me what you came here to tell me," Giles grunted. "Then you can bloody well hit the road. Your presence alone is probably devaluing our property, even as we speak!"

"Oh, _so_ crass. C'mon, we used to be friends, Ripper. When did all that fall apart?" Ethan taunted, with mock hurt.

"I'd say roughly around the time you did what you did to my wife," the reformed Brit said coldly.

"Oh, _that_! Well, look on the bright side. She's still alive, isn't she? Besides, it was just a matter of saving my own skin from Eyghon! And at least it wasn't as bad as the Royals' divorce..."

The glare Ethan was getting from both of the Giles's could have melted glass.

"Oh all right, I'll tell you already! Something's happening in the dark worlds. It's only rumors, of course, but one thing is coming through loud and clear: something's scaring the demons, and it's not the Slayer or that government group that's set up shop here on the Hellmouth..."

Both Jenny and Rupert looked at Ethan with disbelief, but instead of smiling he actually looked...frightened.

"And let me tell you, it's no bloody exaggeration either," the sorcerer whispered. "They're scared Rupert. But what's got them scared most of all is talk about something called the 'Blood War' spilling here."

"The Blood War?" Jenny asked in confusion.

Ethan waved the inquiry aside. "Right. And let me give you an idea on just how serious this is, love. There are things out there, which supposedly don't get scared. Well, right now they're shaking in their hooves and such."

"Demons _such as_?" Giles asked, unconvinced.

"Take your pick of any of the known demons you learned about in our wild youth and your Watcher years. But now that you mention it, the Fyarls seem to be the only ones who aren't scared. On the contrary, they look so bloody glad about it that they're mysteriously disappearing, Ripper. Even the Fyarl clans that have been warring against each other for years! Why, I have no idea."

Ethan paused for a moment. "Look, I know you're not particularly fond of me anymore, Rupert old boy, but this worries the bugger out of me. Even a chaos worshipper like me needs the world in one piece, to ply his trade! And whatever is going on, it's now way beyond simple chaos mate, especially this Blood War. From the sound of it, I'd say it's a serious end-of-the-world scenario, taking into consideration that the demons are actually _scared_ about this apocalypse rather than carrying on with smiles like they just won the lottery."

"And how did you come across this information, Ethan?" Giles demanded.

"Came across it when I went looking for some Fyarls," the chaos mage said, half-truthfully.

"And why would you go and do _that_, Ethan?" Jenny said, glaring.

Ethan glanced at Giles. "Fine, you want the truth? I needed to get some Fyarl essence to have some fun with you, Rupert old boy. I was thinking it might do you some good, turning you into a Fyarl demon. Have a night out on the town, terrorize your wife… maybe even get thrashed by the Slayers. But unluckily for me, it didn't work out that way."

"I ought to break your neck just for thinking of that," Giles commented coldly.

"I wonder if the Fyarls' disappearance is a good thing or a bad thing?" Jenny wondered.

"And what can you tell us about this so-called Blood War?" Giles asked.

"Not much, mate. I only know that there are two powerful demon factions at war with each other for some reason, and that if this Blood War spills over here into this world, we'll be dealing with the usual "end of the world" things- like the sky raining fire, water turning to ash, and the oceans becoming blood- for getting caught in the middle and from what I've heard, the demons don't want that happening. And if you don't believe me, old chum, I can show you. "

Before either Giles could say anything, Ethan gestured to the large mirror hanging against the wall in front of them, and black storm clouds began to swirl in it.

"_Ethan_-" the former Watcher said menacingly.

"Just trust me on this one, Rip," Ethan implored, concentrating.

After a few more moments, a deep red sky appeared, followed by a cracked, barren wasteland and broken hills. But what caught his attention was a fortress carved into the stone, with a large gate decorated with human skulls.

"Ethan..." Giles said warily. "_How_?"

"Came across it when I went looking for the Fyarls," He said flippantly, "now keep watching."

They continued looking into the mirror, observing every inch of the structure. Gradually, the sounds of an army on the march could be heard.

"There we go," Ethan muttered.

Unable to tear his eyes away from the unfolding events, Giles spied a large group of Fyarl demons, covered with war paint and tattoos, stop about a dozen yards from the fortress. Ethan moved the vision towards the fortress battlements, where a number of unknown demons could be seen-demons that neither the ex-Watcher nor the chaos mage had ever seen before.

"Stop" Giles said to Ethan, standing up and moving closer to the mirror. "Go back"

"All right" the mirror went in reverse.

"There!" Giles exclaimed, pointing to a particular demon. "Jenny, look".

Jenny gasped.

"There's…_more_" Ethan heard her whisper, as he got a better look at the demon his old mate had pointed at. She had blonde hair, and aside from the six arms and lower body of a snake, was very attractive. As the three of them watched, the snake demoness appeared to give a command, and before they knew it, the skull-encrusted gate began to open and the Fyarls began to march through.

"What is that?" asked a horrified Jenny, pointing to a towering form of fire and smoke.

Before Jenny or her husband could get a better look at the object, the top part of it moved and a pair of burning eyes seemed to focus on them.

The Giles' infant daughter started to wail.

"It's seen us" they heard Ethan whimper as the demon released a terrifying roar, flames erupting from it's mouth. The demon moved its fiery arm towards its side and they saw it unsheathe a flaming sword.

"Ethan" Giles urged. "Do something."

The demon started running towards them from the other side of the mirror, the sight of which seemed to freeze the married couple, as Ethan finally snapped to and hurled his empty bottle of Corona at the mirror, shattering it into millions of tiny pieces.

"Ethan…what…what was that…_thing_?" Giles asked.

"I don't know mate, but whatever it was, there's more of them" Ethan said.

"More of them!" said Giles, horrified. That demon had to be over eighteen feet tall. Against one of them, Buffy and Alyssa might have stood a chance… but against _more_?

Dear God, he and Wesley would be lucky to have anything left to bury...

"Yeah. Whoever is behind all this is gathering them, Rupert. You can't let them come here."

Temple of Proserpexa, Sunnydale. California. December 15th, 1999. 9 pm

"You should feel honored" the apparition of Cordelia commented with a smile. "You're the first being to be sacrificed in this temple in nearly seventy years" she finished up, standing near the altar.

"Well excuse my lack of enthusiasm" Xander remarked sarcastically. "But y'know having my throat slit isn't exactly my idea of a good time."

"Can't please everyone" the apparition of Cordelia said, smiling. "Besides, who said anything about slitting your throat."

Upon hearing those words Xander immediately turned around, his fist smashing into the face of Caleb. It had been an instinctive reaction based on a gut feeling. Unfortunately, the Vessel of the First Evil was not affected as Xander had hoped and expected. The former priest just cocked his head to the side, glaring at Xander.

Caleb then grabbed Xander by the collar of his shirt and threw him clear across the room, crashing on top of the altar, knocking the wind out of the male teen. Which resulted in him rolling off of the altar and coming to a rest next to the apparition of his former girlfriend.

Groaning in pain, Xander planted his hand on the temple floor next to the altar and started to raise himself back on his feet - when one of the stones that he placed his hand on started to sink.

The sound of rumbling invaded the torch-lit chamber as the altar started to move, exposing a secret compartment underneath it. Looking into the secret compartment, Xander quickly saw a glint of something metallic in it.

Seeing that this was one of those desperate times calling for desperate measures, Xander reached in, feeling his hand wrap around a metal rod and he pulled it out.

It was a four-ball flail.

Or what appeared to be a one, anyway. However instead of four metal balls each attached by a chain to the rod there were four spiked metal skulls.

Xander held the flail in front of him, for all to see.

The smile on Cordelia's apparition instantly turned to an expression of awe. "It can't be. After all this time?" the First Evil whispered. "Caleb!" it then spat out, "Bring me the Instrument of Power that he holds. NOW"

The Vessel of the First Evil hesitated, looking at the weapon Xander possessed.

"He can't hurt you with it. Only someone with certain qualities can use it, S_O KILL HIM BRING IT TO ME_," the First Evil said, contempt in its voice.

Reassured, the defrocked priest stalked towards Xander to fulfill the command of his Master - when Xander started swinging his newfound flail over his head defiantly like a helicopter.

"Didn't you even hear me Geek Boy?" the First Evil said, sounding like Cordelia Chase. "Only someone with certain qualities can wield that, and you don't have them!"

"Yeah, well, what the hell - I'll take my chances" Xander said, continuing to swing the flail.

The moment Caleb got close enough, Xander hit the Vessel of he First Evil in the chest with the flail, sending the former priest flying clear across the altar room, slamming into the wall and onto the floor, to the unexpected surprise of the First Evil.

Caleb did not get back up, his body being nothing more then a broken and battered corpse.

"IMPOSSIBLE" Cordelia exclaimed. "MINIONS. TO ME" she said, eyes narrowing.

Ten minutes ago

Making her way through the underground ruins of Proserpexa's temple searching for her date, Alyssa came across a group of Bringers as she entered a chamber that they were using. Without thinking the Slayer threw herself into them, swinging her axe in a great whirlwind of destruction as a result of focusing her anger on the followers of the First Evil. And that was a result of the fact that they had ruined her date with Alexander Harris.

It wasn't long before the commotion that she had raised managed to attract both Wesley from his interest in the murals, and other Bringers, resulting in melee between the opposing forces.

Unfortunately for the Slayer and Watcher, they didn't have the advantage of numbers as the Bringers did, which lead to the inevitable capture of both Alyssa and Wesley.

But before the Bringers could celebrate or do whatever they had planned for their prisoners, they unexpectedly let Alyssa and Wesley go; as they all retreated deeper into the ruins, summoned by the First's call for its minions. Alyssa and Wesley quickly went in pursuit after them.

When they had finally caught sight of the Bringers they had been chasing enter a chamber to their left, Wes and Lys also heard the sound of fighting and screeching coming from within it. And before they could run another five feet, another group of Bringers ran towards them and entered the chamber, completely ignoring both Slayer and Watcher.

Just as they were reaching the entrance to the chamber, the body of Bringer came flying out through the entrance, a sickening crunch being heard as his skull slammed into the temple wall from the force of impact.

Later, it would occur to them both that there was officially one less vacancy in Hell...

But here and now, readying themselves for battle, the vampire Slayer and her mentor entered the chamber and were instantly taken aback by what they saw.

And that was what the broken and mangled bodies of dozens of Bringers were strewn about throughout the chamber, with Xander in the middle of it fighting with the remaining servants of the First Evil and what appeared to be Cordelia observing. Two of them charged at Xander with their knives, trying to cut him in half but he swung his flail, hitting both of them and sending them flying through the chamber.

Now Alyssa had seen Alexander fight with a mace before but what he was now doing to the Bringers was nothing compared to what he had ever accomplished previously. Instead of them landing nearby him, injured from the impact, the Bringers were landing yards away from him, dead.

On killing the last of the Bringers, the apparition of Cordelia yelled out "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

"My date" Alyssa said answering for Xander.

"And what have we here?" the First said, contempt in its voice as it transformed into the Slayer's deceased Watcher Irene. "Why of course, another necrophiliac Slayer. Let me tell you, the other one has certainly started a grand tradition!"

"Uh-huh. And exactly how am I a necrophiliac, seeing that my date actually has a pulse?" Alyssa shot back. Unsettled at the sight of the woman she had been very close to, once.

"It's quite simple," the fake Irene said, looking at Xander. "He's a dead man walking. You may have won this battle boy, but let me tell you, your life is over. You will not know rest because once word gets out about what you possess, they will come for you."

"Who?" Wesley asked the image of his predecessor.

The apparition of Irene shrank and was briefly replaced by the image of a huge horned and clawed beast coming at the three of them with glowing red eyes and roaring. The First Evil then disappeared as quickly as it appeared as the trio stared in shock at the place where it appeared, the First Evil screaming out "EVERYONE."

UC Sunnydale, December 16th, 1999. 10:00 am

The amount of pounding on the dorm room door was finally able to rouse Buffy Summers and her friend Willow Rosenberg from their sleep. "All right. All right I'm up" Buffy said, annoyed. Opening the door, the Slayer was slightly taken aback at the presence of Riley Finn and two other men with him.

"We need to talk" Riley said as he entered without invitation, his fellow agents followed after him.

"Sure" Buffy said eyeing the new arrivals. She frowned, "Do I need to have security here as well?"

"I'm sorry if you're upset, but I'm also sure that what I have to say may be of interest to you," Riley said.

"You've got ten seconds," Buffy said in annoyance.

"Last night we came across that guy you were looking for," Riley said.

"Uh, about those ten seconds? Forget I said anything. Talk!" Buffy said, Riley's uninvited intrusion forgotten in the face of knowledge regarding Xander.

"Last night on patrol, one of our squads followed a group of HST's to their lair. They…uh, they saw some civilians enter the lair, clearly armed," the dark skinned Agent said.

"When we finally arrived, we went into the lair. We didn't get far," the other Initiative Agent stated.

"Bottom line is I saw him, Buffy," Riley said. "He was trying to leave the lair with his friends."

"What did you do?" Willow asked.

"Tried to detain them for questioning, but they refused to be taken into custody," the black agent said. "One of them actually assaulted us when we..uh..pressed the issue."

"Simply put Buffy, that lair is now off-limits, but we have reason to believe that the guy you've been looking for may have made off with something that he found there that. Something that clearly doesn't belong to him. Whatever it is, we'd like to study it," Riley stated matter of factly.

"So other than the fact that you know I'm looking for this guy, why are you telling me all this?" Buffy asked.

"Doesn't your roommate have a cousin attending Professor Walsh's class, along with the two of you?" Riley said.

"Yeah, so?" Willow responded quizzically.

"Well, I recognized her face last night, even though I doubt she recognized me. She was the one that assaulted Agents Gates and Miller here. Does she know a man with glasses, and an English accent?" Riley inquired.

"Young or old?" Buffy demanded, starting to connect the dots.

"Young, late 20's to early 30's or so," the other Initiative agent confirmed.

"Son of a bitch!" Buffy swore. "Willow, how long will it take for you to do a new locator spell already?" she asked her best friend.

"Twenty minutes, roughly," Willow said, looking uneasy. Family is family, after all. "But that's mainly just to get the ingredients ready. I can be ready to do it by the time I'm ready to cast the spell..."

"Then let's get started. On account of I have a bone to pick with that lying bitch you call a cousin, and that two-faced bastard of a Watcher!" Buffy seethed.

Somewhere in Sunnydale. December 16, 1999. 11:00am

"That is SO unfair" Alyssa Friedman commented after borrowing Xander's newly found flail and using it on the practice dummies in their little training center. "How come you can do that, but I can't?" Alyssa said, looking at the splintered remains of the practice dummies Xander had used his flail on.

"Hey, it's not my fault that it bonded to me" Xander commented back. "Maybe if you had found it first you could've done that to our dummies" Xander said, looking over at the devastation he had done.

"It is a pity though" Wesley interjected. "I really wanted to do take another look at those murals" he said, clearly disappointed.

"That is something I would like to know about Wesley. What was it about those murals that they were more important then finding your friend, or salvaging my date" Alyssa inquired.

"Quite possibly the true history of certain religious questions" Wesley replied mysteriously.

"While you're talking about the truth" Dawn said, "Don't you think it's time you stopped hiding?"

"Yeah Xander" Chloe Chase said. "Think about it. You shouldn't be afraid of Buffy. You've already accomplished things like stopping the Hellmouth from being opened. You've faced down Angelus and also saved Dawn from him."

"Also take into consideration Alex that last night was ruined. I know it's not your fault but someone owes me a night with you" the red haired Slayer said. "And I don't want our next night out alone to involve an evil third wheel. I want to be able to go out with you on actual dates that entail us being seen in public with you, and who cares what Buffy thinks" Alyssa finished, when the door to their training center was forced open and in walked Buffy, Willow and three men following behind them.

"Hello Xander" Buffy said, smirking.

"Uh…hi Buffy" Xander said. "Long time no see."

"Not long enough Xa….what" Buffy started to say, when a crossbow bolt landing near her feet interrupted her.

"Chloe? DAWN!" Buffy exclaimed on seeing her younger sister (reluctantly) aim a loaded crossbow at her while Chloe Chase was quickly reloading hers.

"Leave him alone" Chloe demanded.

"The two of you need to stay out of this" Buffy commanded. "This is between Him and ME" Buffy said, venom in her words.

"And me" Alyssa added in., stepping in front of Xander. "Don't even think of touching my friend and _Man_" she said.

"Alyssa" Willow said. "What were you…are you thinking?" the Wicca said, feelings of betrayal in her voice.

"It's okay Lys" Xander said stepping out from behind the red haired Slayer. "You want me Buffy? You've got me because the girls were right. I can't keep running. Do whatever you want to me. Give me your best-shot Buffy. I won't even move" he said.

Buffy's eyes sparkled at Xander's announcement. She walked up to Xander, ready to make good on his offer.

Just as she was about to strike him, he smirked before saying to Buffy "Of course, keep in mind that although you are The Chosen One, you are still Buffy Summers. I've been doing some thinking and I seriously doubt that saying 'I'm the Slayer' will convince the judge to drop any assault and battery charges that I WILL press. I also hope that you're aware that you'll be beating on me in an area full of witnesses so go ahead Buffy, take your best shot" he said, goading her

Staring at the person that had been the target of her anger for over a year, Buffy swore started walking away. One of the men that accompanied Buffy then said something to the blonde Slayer. She then turned around saying "These men say that you've got something that belongs to them and they want it back."

"And as I told these G.I. Joe's, I didn't find anything there" Xander commented.

"Well seeing that there's an unfriendly atmosphere here, we're going to get going. There's a new girl, (her name's Amanda) at school and we're supposed to meet her at the mall to show her around with another girl that just moved here yesterday" Dawn was commenting as she and Chloe tried to leave the training center.

"STOP RIGHT THERE DAWN" Buffy hollered. "You are in a lot of trouble" the older Summers sister said, which resulted in both Dawn and Chloe running out the building with Buffy chasing after them with Willow, Riley, Forrest and Graham following after them.

"Well that was nice of her to stop by don't you think" Xander and Wesley heard Alyssa say to them, smiling.


	34. Visitors From Down the Stream

Sunnydale, California. December 16, 1999

"It's okay, Lys," Xander said, stepping out from behind the red-haired Slayer. "You want me, Buffy? Well, then, you've got me. Because the girls were right, I can't keep running like this. And I won't. Go ahead, do whatever you want to me. Give me your best shot, Buffy. I won't even move," he said.

Buffy's eyes sparkled at Xander's announcement. And she walked up to Harris, ready to make good on his offer...

When all of a sudden, the Chosen One had the weirdest sense of déjà vu. 'This feels so familiar...like we've done this before?'

Xander quickly added, "Of course, keep in mind that even though you may be the Chosen One and all that, you are still Buffy Anne Summers. Legal adult, in the real world. With a long history of suspected criminal and gang-related activity. Like, remember when the cops were out to arrest you twice on a murder rap?"

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, still troubled by that nagging 'been-there, done-that' sensation.

"Well, I've been doing some thinking, and I seriously doubt that saying 'I'm the Slayer' will convince the judge to drop any assault and battery charges that I WILL press against you, assuming you try to kill me in front of your little sister," Xander said firmly. "Wake up, already. I haven't done anything wrong-"

"YOU KILLED ANGEL!!" Buffy suddenly screamed, releasing nearly two years worth of pent-up anger and rage.

"I killed the vampire who murdered and turned my girlfriend? Well, BIG FUCKING DEAL!!" Xander screamed right back in Buffy's face, causing her to recoil and Willow to go pale at Xander's evident ire. "You never gave a damn about all the people Deadboy slaughtered after he lost his soul-"

"Like you didn't care about the people CORDELIA killed?" Buffy shot back.

"Oh, I cared. That's why I did my damnedest to kill her, while she was a soulless monster. But hey, I wasn't the one who dragged Cordy's soul out of Heaven where it belonged, and put it into her undead corpse! That would be your fault, right Willow?"

All eyes turned to the redhead in question, who just stammered, "Well, that was...i-it was something necessary at the time..."

"How do I know that? Was I there?" Harris demanded.

"Buffy, what are they talking about?" Riley asked, as he glanced at Forrest and Graham in confusion.

"Not now!" Buffy said hurriedly. "Look, Xander-"

"No, YOU look. I told you, I'm done hiding from you! So later I'm going down to the Sunnydale PD headquarters, and report you coming here and threatening me today. If you try anything - ANYTHING - against me or anyone I care about from this day onwards, your ass is gonna end up in jail. And if the ones here in town can't cut it, I'm sure the Watchers can find a nice little hole for you in England, after they pump you full of that Cruciamentum drug. Live with it!" Xander proclaimed.

"You, you - they can't do that...Buffy's the Slayer!" Willow said in disbelief.

Wesley just frowned, obviously thinking that Xander was making threats he might not be able to back up. "Now, everyone please calm down-"

Harris ignored him and just continued on. "No, Will, Buffy WAS the Slayer. Nowadays, she's just a mistake. My mistake! Someone I damn well should have let stay dead after she drowned back in 1997, in order for Angelus to be nothing but a dusty old entry in the Watcher diaries - and Cordelia to still be alive today. Bottom line is Lys is the 

real Slayer around here, people. The Slayer line passed from Buffy to Kendra to her, after all...am I right or what, Wesley!?" Xander said.

"Er..." Wesley instantly looked very uncomfortable. And wishing that he were somewhere alone with Lilah right now, instead of being stuck here in the middle of the Inquisition.

Buffy, for her part, was shocked to hear all that from Xander, having forgotten all about ancient history - almost. And somehow, the blonde college girl hadn't expected it to be quite like this. It was odd how time played tricks on one's memory; if anything, she had expected a pathetic runaway that would get down on his knees and beg her for forgiveness over what he'd done back then...

Buffy Anne Summers honestly felt that she hadn't expected such undisguised fury and anger, and a killing rage obviously just begging to be let out.

Suddenly, Xander's face morphed into that of a vampire. Almost everyone screamed, as the bloodsucker dashed forward and started feeding on Dawn's fragile teenage neck...

And then, Buffy woke up drenched in sweat within her UC Sunnydale dorm room.

'Damn it,' she thought to herself as she threw off the covers. 'What a nightmare...'

Well, perhaps it was an understandable one, what with the events of earlier today. Buffy had been very shaken up by the fact that not only had her little sister briefly taken up arms against her, she'd known for two months where her scumbag ex-friend had been - and said nothing. Hmm, maybe the dream was her subconscious trying to show her how things might look from Dawnie's point of view?

Buffy was instantly even more troubled at that idea. She knew that Dawn had feared and hated Angel after he'd lost his soul, just as she knew that what Dream Xander had said about Angelus killing Cordelia was true enough. But Ms. Summers refused to believe that crap about how Alyssa was the real Slayer, and that she herself was just Xander's 'mistake' nowadays.

Buffy glanced at the clock, as Willow slept soundly in her bed. 'It's nearly midnight. I need to get out there and slay something, no doubt about it!' the young woman thought. Thus she got up, got dressed and quietly walked out the door.

* * *

Unknown location

The same time

"What did you see?" a cloaked figure addressed the scantily clad woman lying before him on a stone table.

"My lord," the seductively dressed woman said to the cloaked figure in front of her. "It appears that a mortal has found Apocalypse from wherever it was hidden, so long ago."

"Are you sure?" the shrouded being said, a hint of excitement in his voice. If what his servant was saying was true, then provided he obtained the weapon itself he would be unstoppable that he would even be able to challenge Lucifer himself.

"Absolutely," the woman confirmed.

"Where?" the cloaked figure demanded.

"I don't know," the woman stated.

"Find out!" the mysterious being demanded.

* * *

Los Angeles, California. December 21, 1999. 9:04 am

"Welcome aboard, Gavin," the congratulations echoed throughout the Wolfram & Hart board room as Holland Manners, the head of Special Projects, briefly looked around. 'Now where the devil is Lindsey? Probably plotting on ruining Lilah's meeting with Rupert Murdoch I suppose... Well at least she'll be able to have a relaxing vacation in two days.'

"Thank you for the promotion, sir," Gavin Park said, trying to maintain a humble posture. He was well aware of what had happened to Lee Mercer a week ago; and quite honestly, he had no intention of following in his predecessor's footsteps and ending up a supply of spare body parts the way Lee had.

"You've earned it" Holland reassured Gavin. "Which brings us to your first assignment. Think of it as your initiation Gavin. Now, I trust you know who Cordelia Chase is?"

"Yes, sir. She's that vampire with a soul that's becoming quite a nuisance for the Senior Partners," Gavin stated.

"Correct," Holland responded. "Prior to his 'reassignment' so to speak, Mr. Mercer was working on the Cordelia problem which led to his last discovery. We found this file in Lee's office after we cleaned it out for you. Now before she became a vampire, Miss Chase had a life on the Hellmouth complete with a family and even a boyfriend. The Senior Partners believe that it's time we sent Miss Chase a message. Do whatever you feel is necessary to show Miss Chase what it means to cross us," Holland remarked.

"I think I have someone in mind sir" Gavin responded, looking at the photos of Chloe Chase and Xander Harris, unaware that one of these targets was wanted alive by the Senior Partners.

* * *

17619 White Oak Drive. Sunnydale, California. December 23, 1999 8:35 pm

Walking hand in hand with each other, Xander and Alyssa knocked on the door of his former home. They didn't have to wait long for it to be opened by Uncle Rory, who greeted them and ushered them inside while telling them that Mia was asleep.

"Where's Mom?" Xander asked his uncle.

"In her room" Uncle Rory said.

"Thank you Uncle Rory" Alyssa said as the couple headed for the Master Bedroom. Coming to the door, Xander lightly rapped on the door until an exhausted sounding voice told them to come in.

"Alex!? Alyssa?! What are you doing here? I thought the two of you were on a date. What are you doing here?" Ariel Harris asked, lying down on her bed.

"Relax, Mom," Xander said. "We just dropped by on our way to say hi and for me to see my baby sister. I mean, that's not a crime is it?"

Ariel couldn't deal with this right now. "Young man, I have the mother of all headaches and your sister is just as big a handful as you were at that age. Now, be what the Christians call the 'Good Son' and leave your poor mother to get some peace, or else I'll put you across my knee and spank you and don't think I won't!"

Instantly Xander backed away, the threat potential too severe even with Alyssa here to protect him.

* * *

Sunnydale, California. 6:15 pm

Holding hands and with a look of satisfaction on their faces, Xander and Alyssa exited onto the streets of downtown Sunnydale from the Red Lobster.

"You have no idea how much I've been wanting to actually go out someplace in public and do something that's a boyfriend/girlfriend thing with you," the Slayer said, as they walked down a alley that was a shortcut to UC Sunnydale.

"I'm a boyfriend?" Xander asked, a little surprised by the redhead's statement.

Alyssa just looked at him, smiling. However, in doing this the Slayer was not looking forward, so it came as to no surprise that she bumped into a woman that was going in the opposite direction.

"I'm terribly sorry," the Chosen One said to the woman, noticing that she was blind.

"It's okay," the blind woman said.

"Here, let me help you," Xander said to the woman, grabbing hold of her hand and helping her off the ground.

"Thank you," the woman said, accepting Xander's help.

"Again, I'd like to apologize. Is there anything we can do for you?" Alyssa asked.

"You can die," the blind woman remarked nonchalantly before punching the Slayer in the stomach, winding her. Before Alyssa could recover, the woman known as Vanessa Brewer kicked Alyssa into the alley wall before turning her attention to Xander. "Nothing personal," the blind assassin said to Xander, just before moving in for the kill.

"Oh, but it is!" a new voice said behind them.

All three individuals turned to the source of the voice and standing at the entrance of the alley were two teenage girls.

"Get away from him!" the blonde girl said angrily to the blind assassin, before she started running at both her and Xander.

Ignoring Xander for the moment, Vanessa Brewer waited for the blonde newcomer to reach her. However, in anticipating this new challenger, the blind assassin had neglected the blonde girl's dark-haired companion and what she might get up to.

Taking advantage of being ignored, the brunette girl held out her hand and said "Ignis!" which resulted in multiple fireballs appearing around her. The young witch then grabbed a fireball and started throwing them one by one towards Vanessa Brewer.

The assassin's immediate reaction was to dodge the fireballs that were thrown at her. But in doing so she had momentarily forgotten about her blond attacker who jumped at her, kicking the blind woman in the face and following through with two jabs to her chest and finishing with a leg sweep which knocked the assassin onto the ground.

The assassin's reaction was to get back up on her feet to defend herself against her attacker, but the barrage of fireballs from her other opponent provided an unwelcome distraction. This made it practically impossible for her to gain the advantage, and it wasn't long before the blonde teenager's speed began to overwhelm her.

Without any warning at all, using the ridge of her hand the blonde girl struck Vanessa Brewer's neck, smashing her windpipe. And this resulted in the blind assassin falling to the ground, choking on her own blood.

Looking away from the dying woman as if everything was normal the blond girl turned to face the people she had saved, smirking at Xander.

"Uh, thank you," Alyssa said to the blond girl, suspicious of both newcomers. Granted they had saved them; but they had also moved so fast that, winded as she was, the redhead hadn't had time to attack Vanessa herself.

"Who are you guys?" Xander asked them in confusion. Even though Xander knew he'd never seen either of them before in his life, both female teenagers looked...familiar, somehow, and he was absolutely sure that he had seen the pendant the blonde was wearing on a necklace somewhere before.

"We're friends," the brunette witch replied, looking at her blonde counterpart. "I'm Athena and this is my big sister..." she trailed off. "The Slayer."

"Doesn't she have a name?" Alyssa demanded.

"I have my reasons for not using it," Slay-gal said defensively. "So don't ask. Just think of me as the vampire Slayer."

"Sure you're the Slayer," Xander said sarcastically. "Especially in light of the fact that the current one hasn't died yet-"

"Is there a place we can talk privately?" Athena asked Xander and Alyssa, quickly interrupting.

Both the Slayer and her boyfriend remained silent, not sure of what to say. Just then Vanessa finally gasped and died on the ground.

"Good riddance," Athena said with barely a glance.

"Please!" Athena's sister said, looking around. "We can't stay here, and we need you to trust us," she implored.

"My apartment," Xander finally responded, not yet sure if he could trust them but thinking if they turned out to be bad guys, it'd be best to tackle them with the home ground advantage and their hidden weapons.

* * *

Xander and Wesley's Apartment, 6:29 pm.

"Look, no offense and please don't think I'm ungrateful for the recent assist," Alyssa started to say firmly. "But seeing as I'm not dead, and I haven't pulled a Buffy either, there's no way you can be the Slayer!"

"But I am the Slayer," the blond girl said. "It's just, I'm from the future. We both are."

"Not even remotely funny," Xander said scornfully.

"We can prove it Alexander Lavelle Harris," Athena smirked, causing Xander to shudder for a moment on hearing his middle name.

"Okay, assuming this is true. How far?" Alyssa said, somewhat skeptical.

"Sixteen years, more or less," the brunette witch said. "Three powerful witches known as the Charmed Ones cast the spell that allowed us to come back here, to change the future - by saving your lives."

"In our time Vanessa Brewer, the assassin you encountered tonight - killed you a few minutes ago, Xander," the Slayer from the future revealed.

That concept was enough to give Xander a deep chill. "Uh-huh. And why would an assassin come after me?" Xander asked.

"Because Cordelia's becoming an intolerable nuisance for the LA branch of Wolfram & Hart. They decided to send her a message, entailing what it means to cross them. But that's not the worst part - see, when Brewer killed you Xander, Alyssa went berserk. And that resulted in her killing that assassin with your flail."

"Really," the red-haired Chosen One said thickly, remembering the story she'd been told about Buffy and Ted back in 1997.

"Yes. Now, Wolfram & Hart considered Brewer to be a very valuable asset. After all, what jury would really believe that a helpless woman like that could be such an effective assassin?" Athena continued. "So after you killed that blind bitch, Wolfram & Hart got involved in prosecuting you. Both as retribution for the loss, as well as the fact that having the Slayer behind bars for a long time was an acceptable conclusion. But there were complications-"

"What complications?" Xander demanded, becoming a believer in spite of his initial skepticism.

"The first was that Wolfram & Hart didn't count on your Aunt Lory becoming Alyssa's defense counsel. The second was that since the prosecutor had to spar with 'The Bitch,' it didn't help his case much after she dug up dirt on what Brewer had done to those Nanjin monks, which resulted in Alyssa getting convicted only of lethal self-defense."

"Huh. My mom told me that Johnnie Cochran actually backed out of a case when he found out she was on the prosecution. I guess she really wasn't exaggerating" Xander said with some awe.

"But the most serious matter was the murder weapon itself," the future Slayer said. "Which also helped Alyssa's case, on account of the fact that the flail disappeared."

"What happened to it?" Xander asked curiously, holding up his recently acquired weapon.

"Those government commandos, the ones I think you've met recently? They took it - they stole it - from the Sunnydale PD evidence locker, after Alyssa was formally charged with murder-two," the blonde teenager continued. "In the name of 'national security' or some other crap like that, of course. But in the end, their little theft really came back to bite them on the ass. Do you remember what the First Evil said to you, about never knowing rest?"

"How would you know what the First Evil said to him?" Alyssa said, eyes narrowing.

"You'd be surprised," the future Slayer said. "But basically, future knowledge, remember?"

"So what happened?" Xander demanded impatiently.

"We don't know for sure, but something happened. The details were never accurately determined by anyone on our side, but that government project of theirs was utterly destroyed. But oh, that's not the worst part," Athena muttered.

"I'm almost afraid to ask?" Alyssa said.

"A high-level demon calling itself the Source of All Evil acquired your flail, and made a play for upward mobility," Athena said to Xander, studying him carefully. "It's just guesswork on what really happened after that, but it's pretty safe to assume that it failed somehow; because someone else acquired your flail."

"Who?" Xander and Alyssa asked together.

"Another major player in the demon world. About six years from now? Hell literally came to Earth, with a powerful Demon Lord using your weapon. You see, in our time humanity is almost extinct. It's the demons who 

rule the world, despite their constant fighting amongst themselves," the brunette teenager said emotionlessly, a bleak look of hopelessness on her face.

"Isn't there any sort of resistance? I mean, aren't the people fighting back?" Alyssa said, her eyes wide in horror.

"Yes, what few who remain, but everyone knows it's a lost cause and that we're just delaying the inevitable. We've lost too much ground to ever be able to win against the enemy. See, the demons you've been fighting up till now? They're lesser demons. The ones that are being fought in the future are a lot more powerful, not to mention bigger. I was told that years ago, a few days after the Hellmouth opened, the Joint Chiefs sent a large and heavily armed attack force into Sunnydale. But in the end every one of the twenty thousand troops were slaughtered by roughly two hundred and twenty demons. And that was in less than three hours," Athena continued.

"Even the magically proficient among us didn't stand a chance," the blonde Slayer remarked. "Even though the Charmed Ones were able to cast a spell turning every Potential Slayer in the world into a member of the Chosen army, we're losing the war."

"So by preventing my death, the future's been changed?" Xander inquired.

"Hopefully, yes," Athena said.

"But why? Is it just because of this?" Xander said as he held up his recently found weapon, and stared at the two future girls.

"How did you know about the assassination attempt and where we would be?" Alyssa asked, when it became clear Xander's question wouldn't be answered.

"You told us," the future Slayer said. "Sixteen years from now. It was something you could never forget, Alyssa. After serving eighteen months in Stockton the Council managed to pull enough strings to get you an early release for good behavior, and then you resumed your Slayer duties. When the Charmed Ones cast the spell making me into one of the Chosen crowd, you became my combat instructor."

"I'm your teacher?" Alyssa said in disbelief.

"Who else do you think would've taught me every dirty trick to survive in our world, let alone kill Brewer?" the blonde girl said, smiling. "Lot of good that does me, though, considering that I still can't beat you in a fair fight."

The girl's words left Alyssa quiet. Given what she had seen of the future Slayer's skill, she must be very formidable if her "student" was unable to beat her in a fight.

"I can guess what you're thinking. But despite our actions in coming back to the here and now, there's still a big danger on the horizon," the dark-haired witch stated. "Xander, as you already know your flail isn't...ordinary. It's known as Apocalypse, and it used to belong to...well, a very powerful Demon Lord named Mephistopheles. After Mephistopheles was murdered by his twin sons Dagon and Baal, Apocalypse disappeared - but to this day a few demons continue to look for it. As the two of you have seen, not only is it immensely powerful but the right person who wields it is immune from missile weapons and harmful magic."

"On the bright side though, only a handful of high-ranking demons even know of its existence and even though they consider it lost, they still guard that information very jealously, despite the fact that only a select handful of certain individuals can even use it. You can't ever let it fall into the wrong hands, Xander," the future Slayer said seriously. "Especially not those Demon Research Initiative types. They don't know what they're messing with. It's like handing a monkey the keys to a nuclear arsenal."

Xander quite honestly wasn't sure what to think anymore.

It was a sobering experience to realize that he was supposed to be dead right now. That the tapestry of life had been destined to continue without him, had these two not majorly interfered with that outcome.

The young man had, from the first moment Athena and her sister had identified themselves, constantly been thinking of all the episodes of Star Trek he'd ever seen to try to think of how to deal with all this. The Temporal Prime Directive didn't apply of course, because returning the timeline to what had been previously been meant to be meant that humanity, and himself, would be completely screwed in his opinion.

Oddly enough, even though he didn't know it Xander Harris was now becoming the critical nexus around which the currents of destiny swirled. He held up Apocalypse and muttered, "Not let it fall into the wrong hands? I'm wishing now I'd never laid eyes on the damn thing..."

"True, but like it or not Xander, Apocalypse belongs to you now" Athena said.

The next twenty minutes was spent with the two girls from the future asking Xander everything they could about him, from his hobbies to his Twinkie obsession when the girls finally threw themselves around Xander in a hug, moments before the girls vanished from the apartment.

Only after almost ten minutes after the sisters from the future had disappeared, Xander realized where he had seen the necklace the Slayer from the future was wearing on before.

* * *

17619 White Oak Drive. Sunnydale, California. December 23, 1999 8:35 pm

"I just wanted to tell you that I love you mom," Xander said hugging his mother.

"Oh, sweetie, I love you too," Ariel said to her son, unaware how close she had come to losing him earlier in the evening. "I'm sorry I was so grumpy with you earlier, it's just you caught me at a really bad time. Forgive me?"

"Sure. Uh, Mom. Do you still have that 'lucky' necklace I made for you?" Xander asked.

"The one you gave me on Mothers Day in Fourth Grade? No. I don't have it anymore sweetie" the half-demon witch said. "I gave it to your sister. Because in this town with gangs on PCP, she's going to need it more then me."

"Mia has it" Alyssa whispered, as the tumblers clicked into place inside her brain.

"Why the interest?" the wife and mother asked suspiciously.

"He told me about how he made it for you. And I wanted to see it" Alyssa said quickly.

"Well, I don't think there's any harm in showing you, just as long as you don't wake her up" Ariel Harris said, getting up from the bed and leading the way towards the nursery with Xander and Alyssa following her. "Wait here" the blonde nurse said to her son while she entered the room for a minute and came back out with the 'Lucky Necklace' that bore the exact same pendant that the Slayer from the future had worn.

"You made this" Alyssa said to her boyfriend fighting to contain her surprise at the revelation. "It looks wonderful" she complimented him.

"Thanks," Xander said, not knowing what else to say as it became clear to him why the sisters from the future had been very vindictive and cold in regards to killing Vanessa Brewer as well as making it personal.

But what really spooked him was knowing that not only was the infant on the other side of the door going to be a Slayer some day, but that both of his rescuers were his baby sisters from the future…

* * *

From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman

January 3, 2000

Although it has been thirteen days since I last updated this diary, not much has happened to tell the truth (in the world of the supernatural anyway) ever since the Christmas holiday other then an attempt on my best friend's life.

But on the social scale much has happened. To say that Ms. Summers was not pleased with her "reunion" with Alexander Harris would be an understatement, but then again she wasn't exactly happy with Ms. Friedman, myself and her sister for keeping quiet about him.

Still, Alex has done what he can to make things right between himself and the rest of the "Scooby Gang" as he calls them. Amy Madison and Percy West didn't take much effort in that they never really had to deal with Alexander's 'betrayal' so to speak and were relieved to know that there was someone else that could be relied upon in the 'good fight.'

Unfortunately, this revelation has practically escalated the growing animosity between my two Slayers and has also resulted in Ms. Summers refusing to now speak to me at all. Of course she has never really spoken to me from the first day I took my duties, so in truth nothing much has actually changed.

Ms. Summers is also currently not on any easy terms with her younger sister Dawn, while the same could be said between Ms. Friedman and her cousin Willow Rosenberg. It is to my regret that matters have degenerated down to this, however given the circumstances I knew it would eventually happen. And at least it didn't take place during a world-ending event.

And now that I think about it, it could have been worse.

As for myself, I had expected a bad confrontation between my predecessor, but apparently the Powers work in mysterious ways.

* * *

Xander and Wesley's Apartment. January 2nd, 2000 9:24 am.

"I don't know Wesley. Something tells me that your Dwarves are gonna be writing a new volume in the Book of Grudges about Waaagh Harris" Xander said smugly, looking at the models of his Orc and Goblin army on their gaming table.

"Have the words 'I have not yet begun to fight' mean anything to you Alex" Wesley replied back snidely.

Before Xander could reply there was a knock on the door of their shared apartment.

Xander and Wesley looked at each other and Wesley said "Ten bucks say it's that Riley chap."

"Nah. It's Buffy's mom so she can chew me out for getting Dawn involved" Xander responded, heading to the door and opening it. However, rather than either of the people Xander and Wesley had guessed would be at the door, was instead Rupert and Jenny Giles.

"Hello Xander" was Giles's calm response.

"G-Man?! What an unexpected surprise" Xander said, not expecting for Giles of all people to visit him.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that infernal name…" Giles said in exasperation, before pushing his wife's wheelchair into the apartment while Wesley closed the door behind them.

"Uh Giles, not to be rude but where's your bundle of joy?" Xander asked, refer to the couple's infant daughter.

"Sleeping at home. We have Dawn babysitting her," Jenny said.

"Okay, cool. Let her learn about the joy of changing diapers, maybe it'll snap her out of that fantasy she has about you-know-what. So let's cut to the chase. What brings you here?" Xander asked.

"Why didn't you call?" Giles said. "Let us know that you were okay."

"Buffy" was Xander's only response.

"Xander, just because she is…was my Slayer, that does not mean that I automatically condone everything she does" Giles said. "That day if not for your actions, the world would have been sucked into Hell, and if preventing that from happening meant that Angel had to be destroyed, to my mind it is and was a reasonable sacrifice."

"You're never gonna convince Buffy of that. Willow either. Well, it's good to know that not everyone thinks that I'm the worst person in the world" Xander commented.

"Never think you are" Jenny said. "But I would like to speak to you Xander. Alone. Besides, you aren't the only one that needs to be spoken to alone" she said, glancing at Wesley.

"So Xander, could you please take me to your room, and don't get any ideas" Jenny said, smiling. "I am a married woman."

"Sure thing Mrs. G-Man," Xander retorted with a smile, moving behind Jenny's wheelchair and pushing her towards his room while Giles remained with Wesley.

"In case you were wondering we're not here to chew you out Xander" Jenny said once they were in his room. "Well, technically I AM supposed to chew you out for killing Angel, because my clan believes that he should be suffering the torment of having a soul for all eternity. But I'm not going to do that. Besides; eventually, that curse was meant to be broken and if it had been placed upon him again, there was always the chance of him losing his soul again. And I doubt either of us would have wanted that to happen again."

"True enough. Okay, thanks," Xander said. "But there is one thing I do want to know."

"Yes?" Jenny said.

"What drugs were you on when you agreed to become Mrs. G-Man?" Xander said, a smirk on his face.

"To be honest, I don't remember if it was the liquor or Ectasy" Jenny said, smiling.

* * *

From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman

January 3rd, 2000

I ended up spending the evening retelling Mr. Giles of the events surrounding our involvement with Ms. Friedman, with Mr. Giles becoming impressed with Alexander's feats and accomplishments.

And after hearing some of the stories Mr. Giles relayed to me, it made me wonder whether or not we simply should have stayed in Chicago...

* * *

From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman.

January 9th, 2000

Things have certainly taken an interesting turn, and I suspect that there is now cause for concern. According to Ms. Friedman, her freshman psychology teacher Professor Margaret Walsh asked her to stay after class. Thinking nothing of it, Ms. Friedman stayed after class.

When Professor Walsh approached her, it had nothing to do with her progress in class but rather about her identity of being the Slayer.

* * *

UC Sunnydale, Sunnydale. January 9th, 2000 10:02 am.

"Ms. Friedman. It has come to my attention that you are one of these mythical Slayers that I've recently heard about."

"How did you find that out?" Alyssa responded, taken back by her teacher's statement.

"One of my sources. And Ms. Summers informed me as well, so I was wondering if we could talk?" Walsh said.

"No harm in talking I guess, Professor Walsh," Alyssa said carefully. "What do you want to know?" she said.

"Well…to start with, how long have you been the Slayer?" the scientist inquired.

"Around a year and a half," Alyssa said, pride in her voice.

"And how long has your friend been helping you?" Walsh pressed.

"About a year," she responded, figuring Walsh was talking about Xander. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm just curious, seeing that he has something that I would really like to look at," Walsh answered.

'I should have known,' the Slayer thought. "Well, did it occur to you to just ask him nicely?" Alyssa asked.

Smiling, Maggie Walsh thought it best to change the subject. "Granted, even though our methods differ, I am very sure that we can learn much from each other. I'm currently working on getting you and Ms. Summers clearance to come into our facility. It's called the Initiative, in case you didn't know. And I'm sure that after you see our operation you'll be more…receptive to what we can do together," Dr. Walsh said.

"As long as you don't lock me into it," Alyssa said. "But right now, me and Buffy aren't really on good speaking terms right now."

* * *

From the Watcher Diaries of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Watcher for the Slayers Buffy Summers and Alyssa Friedman.

January 9th, 2000

Ms. Friedman is going to give the Initiative a trial run before making a commitment, but she is also adamant about having me and Alex coming with her, seeing that we are a team.

There is a certain wisdom in this, I will admit; after all as the old saying goes, we must all hang together, lest we all hang separately.

* * *

Sunnydale Mall, Sunnydale. January 15, 2000 10:20 am

Despite being a little sleep deprived from the previous night's sortie, both Dawn and Chloe were in good spirits since it was Saturday. Although they enjoyed helping Xander, Alyssa and Wesley, they still had lives and they wanted to act like teenage girls, which explained why they were meeting up with two new girls who had recently moved into Sunnydale at the mall to hang out. One girl was named Amanda and the other girl was also named Chloe.

They had arranged to meet at the food court near the magic shop that was owned by Xander's parents. Arriving at the food court, Dawn Summers and Chloe Chase saw the two new girls chatting in between a Subway sandwich. So they each pulled up a seat and sat next to them and discussed things that would be of interest to girls in junior high.

However, it was not long before they were interrupted by an acquaintance that had become an annoyance to them, primarily to Chloe Chase.

"Good morning ladies, and what brings you here to the mall?" the classmate said to the girls, trying to sound casual.

"Stalking is illegal in Sunnydale, Andrew," Chloe Chase said to the younger Wells brother. "Besides, how many times do I have to tell you Andrew, you-are-not-my-type!" she said before getting up from her seat along with Dawn, Amanda and Chloe English and leaving.

"It doesn't hurt to try," Andrew muttered to no one in particular before getting up from his seat and walking in the opposite direction, head downcast before lifting his head a few seconds later and noticing the sign of the magic shop.

"Magic shop? I wonder…" the geek muttered to himself.

* * *

Inside the Harris magic shop. A few moments later

"What am I doing here?" Xander said to himself while sitting behind the register.

"You're helping me run the store while your parents are at the doctor with your little sister," Rory Harris said.

"I know that. It's just that…"

"You don't want to be here. Trust me kid, neither do I. But somebody has to run the family business, otherwise do you want your sister to grow up homeless? Or worse, do you want your Aunt Lory yelling at me to get a real job?"

"Good point, Uncle Rory," Xander said, before getting up and walking towards the front door.

"Where are you going?" Rory Harris called after his nephew.

"I'm getting lunch," Xander said. "Do you want something?"

"Depends on what you're getting" Rory said.

"I don't know yet. I've got your cell number, I'll call you from the deli," Xander said to his uncle before stepping outside. A few moments later, Andrew Wells entered the Magic Shop, his curiosity aroused.

"Welcome to the Magic Shop" Rory called to Andrew. "If you need anything, let me know."

"Thanks. Do you have any books?" Andrew said.

"What kind of books?" Rory asked, wanting to help his client.

"Magic books and books that talk about demons and undead" Andrew said.

"Well, the books are over in that corner, but we did get a few new ones yesterday that you may be interested in." Rory said, moving behind the counter and grabbing a few books and placing them on the counter for Andrew to look at.

Browsing through the titles, Andrew Wells looked through them before one title caught his eye resulting him in him exclaiming "You have a Book of Vile Darkness!! Cool. I head that Wizards of the Coast had released one and that just might be the thing I need for a new D&D campaign. How much?" Andrew asked, on noticing that there was no price.

"Well, seeing that the book looks like it has seen better days, 10?" Rory said.

"You got yourself a deal" Andrew said, taking out his wallet and handing Rory Harris a ten dollar bill..

"Enjoy" Rory said, pleased on being able to sell a damaged book that he would have most likely been unable to sell. However, in his ignorance Rory Harris quite understandably had no idea what danger he had put Sunnydale in.

* * *

Author's Note: Whew. Finally after who knows how long I have updated this story. I am very sorry about the delay but life has been tough lately. But I have no intention of disappointing both old and new readers by leaving this fic unfinished.

I also want to inform you that I have a forum for my story. Enjoy and I will be working on the next chapter.


	35. Dating, Nerds and Witches

San Francisco, California. January 21, 2000 9:08 pm

Even though it was a Friday night, Prudence Halliwell was quite understandably upset - due to the fact that it was a Friday night, and she didn't even have a date. In addition, what really made the Charmed One mad was that while she was recently disguised as Ms. Hellfire, she had turned more heads than usual and she missed that.

However, as the old saying goes, 'you should be careful what you wish for' which is what happened as two white lights suddenly appeared in the parlor she was residing in, one appearing on a couch while the other next to the couch.

Before she could focus on using her telekinesis on the intruders, Prue recognized the figure on the couch as her whitelighter, Leo Wyatt.

The other whitelighter was unknown to her, but that was of little importance right now in that Prue could see from the expression on Leo's face that he was in severe pain as he called for Piper.

"What happened?" Prue asked her guardian angel even as she reached for the phone, dialing the number for P3.

"One of my charges recently moved to Sunnydale, and it's standard procedure for whitelighters to go there in groups or pairs. So the Elders asked Leo to accompany me," the female whitelighter responded, as she used her powers on Leo.

Before anything else could be said, the phone was picked up on the other end and Prue said, "Piper? It's me Prue; you gotta come home right now. Leo's been hurt, and he's calling for you," she said before hanging up.

"Now tell me everything," Prue said to Leo's companion.

~*~*~*

Sunnydale, California. Ten minutes earlier

"Thanks for coming with me, Leo," the female whitelighter said to the former army corpsman.

"Well I couldn't just let you come to Sunnydale alone, Thelma," Leo said to his companion. "Besides, it's not like the Elders would ***let*** you come here alone."

"True. Now let's go find my charge, because I don't want to linger here anymore than…" Thelma said, before she was interrupted by the sounds of fighting in a nearby alley. Knowing how things were in Sunnydale, both whitelighters went to investigate the sounds and unexpectedly saw two men and a girl fighting and winning against several vampires.

One of the men, armed with a falchion, was easily holding his own against his vampiric opponent while the auburn-haired girl, who could only be a Vampire Slayer, was doing well against her sworn enemies. However it was their companion that had gotten their undivided attention as the whitelighters saw him swing his weapon into a vampire, resulting in the bloodsucker being slammed against the wall, screaming in agony. The vampire was rendered helpless due to the fact that it seemed every bone in the affected area was broken.

With his presence, it was not long before it became apparent that the brawl was over and the Slayer and the other man dispatched the vampires crippled by the flail. However, on noticing the skull-spiked design of the flail, Leo and Thelma both decided to make themselves known to the vampire killers.

"Excuse me," Leo called to Xander Harris, who along with Wesley and Alyssa stopped and turned around to look at whoever had spoken to them.

Seeing that he now had their attention, Leo Wyatt pointed to the skull-spiked flail and said to Xander, "I don't know who you are, but you're gonna have to hand that over to me right now. I don't know how you found it, but it does not belong in your hands."

"Yeah, well, I gotta disagree," Xander said in annoyance. "'Cause I have it on very good authority that it DOES belong in my hands," Xander then said with finality, remembering the words of his baby sisters from the future.

"On a Hellmouth? I highly doubt that," Leo Wyatt said, grabbing for the flail Apocalypse.

But Xander dodged, with Alyssa and Wesley sizing up Thelma as a possible threat, not knowing that they were allies in the greater fight.

"Look, asshole, I don't know who you are but this weapon does not leave my hands. Way too many lives are at stake, and I am not handing it over to anybody!" Xander said when Thelma rushed him, grabbing for Apocalypse.

Wesley and Alyssa immediately pounced on the African whitelighter, tearing her away from the quarter-breed demon when Leo made another attempt to grab Apocalypse from Xander. Instinctively, Xander swung his weapon at the guardian angel, concluding that he was a demon seeking to possess his weapon. On seeing that the flail was directed at him, the whitelighter orbed out, but not before the weapon of the fallen Demon Lord Mephistopheles had cut through Leo's orb lights.

Seconds later, Thelma orbed away as well.

~*~*~*

San Francisco, California. January 21, 2000 9:48 pm

"How can you still be hurt?" Prue asked her whitelighter, as Thelma continued to use her powers to try and heal Leo, as Piper cradled his head in her lap. "I thought only darklighter poison could hurt or kill you?"

"It's that flail, Prue. The Elders have recently learned that the Source has found out from his Oracle that Apocalypse was discovered from wherever it was hidden, a very long time ago. The flail that I tried to take from that kid was Apocalypse. According to the Elders, it's powerful and in the wrong hands - its user is unstoppable. The Elders have told all whitelighters to keep an eye out for it and to acquire it at all costs. When he tried to hit me with it, I orbed out because it might have killed me. Instead, it did this to me. Ouch," Leo complained as Thelma used her healing powers to try and soothe the pain that her colleague was in, that was all she could do for him at the moment.

"Fine. Now where exactly is that little punk who tried to kill you?" Piper said, venom in her words.

"Piper…" Leo tried to say.

"No. Nobody hurts my…I mean ***our*** whitelighter," she said a bit too calmly. "Besides, we get that weapon, and the Source is beaten again, right?" she finished as an afterthought. "So as soon as you guys are ready, I say we go back to Sunnydale in force and teach that guy a lesson before getting that damn flail!"

~*~*~*

Wesley and Xander's apartment, Sunnydale, California. January 22, 2000 9:58 am

"All right, you two. Now as you know, I'm going to be gone for two weeks, so please try not to destroy the place," Wesley said rather pedantically.

"What makes you think that'll happen, Wes?" Xander asked his friend cheerfully.

"Well, this *does* happen to be the Hellmouth," Alyssa answered, smiling. She was still in a state of bliss at the prospect of having Xander all to herself for a while and the things she hoped to be doing with him tonight if her plan worked…

"Actually, I'm more worried about you and Alex having a lover's quarrel and our deposit going up," Wesley smirked briefly.

"What makes you think that's going to happen?" Alyssa said, losing the smile at once. Wesley may have been her Watcher, but that didn't give him a free pass on comments like that.

"Because, Alyssa, I happen to live on the Hellmouth, where only the weird and bizarre ever happens, especially with your temper and his mouth," Wesley said when a car horn honked outside of the building.

"And who would that be?" Xander remarked inquisitively.

"Ah. My ride to the airport, most likely," Wesley said, momentarily grinning before he grabbed a pair of large suitcases and made his way out the front door, with Xander following after him to see who his 'ride' would be, even if deep down he knew that it could only be one person.

"Lilah, what a pleasure to see you again," Xander said on seeing his friend's girlfriend. The female attorney certainly wasn't exactly hard on the eyes, so this was not a lie.

"Why hello Alexander," the lawyer said charmingly. "And how are you this morning?"

"Eh, so far so good. So you're the one taking Wes to the Sunnydale airport?" Xander said.

"You could say that," Lilah said, with a smirk while removing her sunglasses.

"And yet, you're here all the way from Los Angeles? You're going with him, aren't you?" Alyssa said frankly to Lilah, emerging from the apartment.

"Of course! It wouldn't be a vacation if Wesley couldn't take me with him," Lilah said. "Besides Alyssa, he's British. He might stray if I'm not around to keep an eye on him."

"Lilah, I say!" Wesley protested, full of righteous indignation. "I'll have you know, I-I-I'm not the sort of chap who, who..."

"Fancies a bit of extra crumpet?" Xander said with an almost perfect British accent, causing Wesley to glare at him.

"It sounds like you'll need these to keep him in line then," the red-haired Slayer said to her Watcher's girlfriend, as she handed Lilah a multi-tailed flogger and a pair of furry handcuffs while trying not to laugh or smile on seeing Wesley's face become red.

"Ooooh...I've been wondering where these disappeared off to. You didn't happen to find a Catholic schoolgirl outfit as well, did you Alyssa? I really don't remember what happened to it after a certain someone taught his naughty student what the consequences are for 'cheating' on her test," Lilah said with a predatory grin, ignoring the small shade of red on Wesley's face grow deeper.

"Err, ah, I need to get out of here," Wesley muttered, as he picked up the suitcases and headed for the car.

~*~*~*

Elsewhere in Sunnydale, the same time

"Leo, are you sure this is where it happened?" Phoebe Halliwell asked Leo in regards to the alley, who nodded in mild pain.

"Let's start scrying," Piper remarked, pulling out a map of Sunnydale and their scrying stone. "Because payback is coming, and it is so going to be a complete bitch once we find that guy."

~*~*~*

Wesley and Xander's apartment, Sunnydale, California. 10:08 am

"So Lys, how would you like to start off this fine Saturday morning?" Xander asked his Slayer girlfriend as they waved goodbye to the older couple as they drove away.

"Breakfast would be a nice start," the Jewish girl said, smiling.

"IHOP, or shall I slave away for you in the kitchen my harsh, ungrateful and unforgiving Queen?" Xander asked with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"IHOP will have to do, seeing that Lilah took the whip, and no, what I did to him right now was not payback for his remark about us having a lover's quarrel" Alyssa said, winking at him before locking her arm with Xander's and walking out the door.

~*~*~*

Elsewhere in Sunnydale, 10:10am

"Well, this is a first," Phoebe remarked in confusion, seeing the scrying stone which Prue was holding act in a very abnormal way. Instead of focusing on one area, the stone was twirling in Prue's hand all over the Sunnydale map, as if it didn't know where to lock onto.

"It's probably the Hellmouth interfering," Leo Wyatt said to his charges.

"So much for that idea. What do you think? Is he a demon? Because I don't think a warlock can block scrying spells, right?" Prue said.

"Yeah, I'd say so. Great. All we gotta do now is find out what kind of demon he is," Piper said.

"Can we figure that out during breakfast?" Phoebe asked.

"Good idea Pheeb's" Leo said. "I'm sure I saw an IHOP back there down the street."

~*~*~*

Twenty minutes later

"Well, at least we didn't have to wait long to be seated," Phoebe commented on the restaurant's service.

"Let's just hope the food is as good as the service," the eldest of the sisters said.

"Hey!!" Piper remarked. "IHOP makes good food," she added, defending the restaurant. "And it would be even better if I did some of the preparation."

"If you say so," Prue said. "Let's just order already," she finished up, unaware along with the rest of her party that their quarry was seated in the booth next to them, their presence hidden by the divider separating the booths.

"So tell me Alex," the Jewish Slayer said to Xander while waiting for their breakfast to arrive. "How have things been going on Cordelia's end? I mean, that was her you were talking to last night," Alyssa asked out of curiosity and mild jealousy.

"Actually it was Harmony," Xander said. "Cordy was working on an exorcism case, something about a demon possessing a little boy. But she did fill me in on what's been happening over there lately," Xander said.

"Like?" Alyssa said, her curiosity aroused.

"Remember our first date?" Xander asked Alyssa.

"How could I forget?" Alyssa replied. "It was so romantic having to go rescue you from some demon picnic crashers."

"YOU rescued ME? I happen to recall that I did not need rescuing. As a matter of fact, I was the one that dealt with them," Xander said.

"Whatever you say, honey," Alyssa said, rolling her eyes to tease him. "So you were saying about Harmony?"

"Sorry. Anyway, while we were having one hell of a first date, Buffy and Willow went to LA to try and get some info from Cordy in regards to where I was holed up."

"Uh-oh. Trouble brewing," Alyssa commented. She made a mental note to talk to Willow about all this soon.

"Yup. As expected, they ended up arguing and then started fighting. However, before it could escalate out of control, a cop that they know broke up the fight."

"Was her name Kate Lockley?" Alyssa asked matter of factly.

"I take it you know her," Xander said, giving her the eye.

"Know her, no. Know of her, yes," the Slayer said. "Keep going."

"Well, here is where it gets interesting. It seems that a few nights before, Lockley was somehow dragged into a case Cordelia had involving a group of Nazi-esque demons called the Scourge."

"Nazi-esque?" Alyssa said, raising an eyebrow on hearing the word.

"They believe that only pure-blooded demons should exist, and have a habit of being militaristic and wearing uniforms and jack boots."

"Oh," the Chosen One said, understanding.

"Anyway, they had this bomb that would kill anyone with human blood in their veins and Doyle...you know Doyle, right?"

"Oh yeah. Cordy was not happy with him when I was there," Alyssa said, remembering his tab at Caritas.

"Doyle was all prepared to sacrifice himself and jumped on the bomb, but before he could get killed, Cordelia jumps on the bomb as well, knocks a badly injured Doyle off and defuses it. However in the process, Lockley is introduced to the real world because she sees Cordy all vamped out while defusing the bomb and the Gem of Amara healing the damage done to her."

"Are they okay?" Alyssa asked, concerned.

"Yeah, but here is where it gets funny. They explained to Lockley about the world of Slayage and after breaking up the fight between Buffy and Cordy and threatening to arrest all of them, Lockley goes upstairs to look in on Doyle. She even brought him some food. However, while looking after him and even making him a little lunch…"

"She uses her handcuffs on him for being a bad boy," Alyssa interjected, a twinkle in her eye.

"Yeah. Well, close enough," Xander said, trying not to laugh. "Just without the handcuffs."

"Okay. I'm trying to understand where the funny is, though," Alyssa said.

"Well, while she was reading him his rights in bed after they'd had sex, somehow Doyle's vision abilities were passed onto her."

"Get out of here!" Alyssa whispered in amazement.

"I'm serious! No one knew what happened until Lockley was saying g'bye to Cordelia and friends, when she suddenly gets hit with a vision. Obviously she was not happy with Doyle afterwards, as you'd expect - and then things got worse."

"They got worse?" Alyssa said, eyes wide open.

"A serial killer arrived in LA. He was called 'The Pope Killer' and it turns out he's one of Angel's loose ends when he was all soulless centuries back. Apparently, since Cordelia was sired by Angelus, she had a slight connection with this vampire, whose name happened to Penn. Turns out that Lockley was working on that case and Penn decides to off her, and then Doyle does what he can to protect her. Of course, during the fight, he ends up having to reveal his Brachen side to her..."

"Oh no. So not only is she upset with him about giving her those migraine-causing visions after they did the beast with two backs, but she's also pissed with the guy for being half-demon and not telling her?!" Alyssa said.

"Yeah. Harmony tells me that Doyle is pretty withdrawn now. He might even give Angel a run for his money in the brooding contest. Oh, did I mention that Harmony got nine months pregnant overnight by a demon-worshipping boyfriend?" Xander smirked.

Alyssa shook her head, smiling. She should have known though, it seemed to Alyssa that Harmony had seemed exactly the type for it.

"But the big excitement is them having a new financial backer. You've heard of David Nabbit, right?" Xander asked the redhead.

"Wasn't he that guy who hired Cordelia as a bodyguard for some kind of convention?"

"Yep," Xander said. "Anyways, after the job we did at the convention, it turns out that Nabbit came to the Hyperion with a new case for Cordy. Apparently, a guy that Nabbit knows needed some help and went with him to hire Cordy and the rest to protect some refugees. But here's the catch. The refugees are all female demons escaping from their dimension, where women are second-class citizens at best, or slaves at worst to put it bluntly. Once the case was over, Nabbit realized that this other world does exist so he's providing some financial backing…but he wants in and he's doing it for the thrill."

"He's in for a surprise, then," Alyssa remarked, but before anything else could be said, their breakfast arrived. And while enjoying the meal with her boyfriend, a plan began to formulate in her mind as what to do for a 'pre-emptive strike' on Xander. One that by the time she had finished her breakfast twenty minutes later, the redhead knew what she had to do.

When the bill arrived, Xander reached for it and after looking at it, he smiled, got up and offered his hand to his girlfriend while saying, "Shall we?"

A sincere smile appeared on Alyssa's face and she simply said "Yes," while taking his hand and together they head for the counter to pay for their meal before leaving the IHOP, without a care in the world.

"So what do we do next?" Xander asked Alyssa as he opened the restaurant door for her.

"Well, I was wondering if we could go back to your place so I can get my purse so you can take me shopping. There are some things I need to get, and despite my supernatural strength I just know I'm going to need your big strong muscles," she said, smirking.

"Sure, as long as you don't try to drag me into Victoria's Secret like you did the day after Thanksgiving," Xander said with a faux scowl.

"I promise," Alyssa said, while laughing in her mind. 'Sucker,' she then thought to herself wickedly.

But it was then that the fates or the Hellmouth decided to intervene. Because the moment Xander and Alyssa passed the window next to the Charmed Ones and their whitelighter, that was when Leo glanced outside and recognized both from the previous night, and he said to his charges while pointing, "That's him!!"

The three sisters all glanced outside and each had a different thought ranging from homicidal, tactical or lustful. Then Leo said, "We can't afford to start a fight in front of everyone in here. I'll follow them, and hopefully we can plan some kind of ambush," before he orbed away in pursuit.

~*~*~*

Xander and Wesley's apartment, thirty-five minutes later

"Are you sure this is where they went?" Prue asked her whitelighter.

"Yeah," Leo responded. "They went in real quick and then left for who knows where. But at least now we know where they live."

"So what's the plan?" Phoebe asked.

"Leo orbs in, unlocks the door and we search for the flail as well as for any clues we can find in regards to what kind of demon he may be," Prue said.

Nodding his head, Leo orbed away. A few seconds later the door to the apartment opened with Leo smiling at the entrance, and then the Charmed Ones entered the apartment closing the door behind them.

The quartet then spent over forty-five minutes searching the residence looking for the flail, as well as any information that they could find. In the end, all they could find were a few photographs of the demon with beings that could only be his family. Feeling as if they had come across a dead end, the sisters and whitelighter orbed away to focus on a new plan of action, taking along with them the photograph of Xander and his family.

~*~*~*

Xander and Wesley's apartment, 1:15 pm

For some reason, the climate was definitely chilly despite the traditional hot California weather that afternoon.

Entering the apartment, an upset Xander was being followed by a confused Alyssa - who, while looking at him, asked in a confused voice, "What's wrong, Alex?"

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG? Don't even try that one, Lys. You know very well what you did, so don't try to act all innocent with me!!" Xander ranted, while shaking his head.

"What?" the Jewish Slayer said, desperately trying not to smile mischievously. "I promised you I wouldn't drag you into Victoria's Secret. And I didn't do that, did I?"

"What do you mean you didn't do that. Lys? Unless your eyes deceive you, that store was filled with clothes specially designed for women!!" Xander said, trying not to think of the things Alyssa had worn to tease and arouse him.

"But Alex, that wasn't Victoria's Secret, and you didn't say anything about not going into Frederick's of Hollywood..."

"Alyssa Friedman, don't you try the Hellmouth lawyer act on me! You..." Xander said, trailing off as images of Alyssa in that black peek-a-boo gown that covered her in just the right spots reappeared in his mind. He finally said, "You shouldn't have done what you did. I thought we had this little thing called trust going here..."

The expression on Alyssa's face quickly changed from all smiles to one of pain, as the realization of his words sunk into her head. "We do!! But didn't you like what you saw?" Alyssa said in the best hurt voice she could make, remembering the advice his succubus grandmother had given her a few nights ago.

Taken completely by surprise, Xander was about to explain what he meant but just as he said "No-" his supernatural girlfriend interrupted him. "You don't think I'm sexy, do you?" she said in a sobbing and accusing tone of voice.

"WHAT? Oh for God's sake, no! It's not that," Xander looked exasperated, even his worst days with Cordelia Chase had been nothing like this. "Look, Alyssa. I really like you, but it's just that I don't think we should be moving so fast," Harris then said to her, trying to avert the most dangerous weapon in the female arsenal, sobs and tears.

He added, "I mean, I know I'm completely sounding like the girl in this relationship - but y'know, whatever it is we have together these days, it should be built on mutual love, respect, understanding and sincerity, Lys. You pulling a stunt like that, when you KNEW how I didn't want to go to Victoria's...I mean Frederick's...well, it kinda pissed me off. But I don't want you to feel hurt or get the wrong idea because I don't want things to get out of hand, I mean before we know it Lys, you'd have to drop out of college because you're expecting a big surprise in nine months, and your parents make sure that my parents never find my remains..." the young man started to babble hysterically, remembering the gun collection Alyssa's father had.

"That won't happen, honey. Believe it or not, they like you Alex. But still, that is sweet of you, not wanting me to get hurt!" Alyssa said, 'calming down' while piling on the feminine wiles on her boyfriend by placing her hand on his right cheek and kissing him. The last thing she wanted was for them to have a lovers' quarrel or whatever that would ruin her plans for the evening. "But the thing is, I'm crazy about you and I want you to know how I feel about you. Tell you what - how about you bend me over your knee right now and spank me for being a bad girl, until I promise not to do it anymore?" she said, trying not to laugh.

"Alyssa," Xander said in a very shocked and unamused tone of voice.

"Or how about I just cook your favorite dish as an apology?" the redheaded Slayer said, unable to control her laughter anymore.

"That...actually sounds real tempting," Xander said, calming down a little.

"Just don't spank me too hard," Lys said, grinning. "I want to be able to sit down afterwards without being in pain."

"I meant that part about the dinner," Xander scowled.

"Sorry," Alyssa remarked, her good mood still obvious to anyone with eyes.

"I'm sure," Xander kept scowling.

"Come on, Alex. It was just a joke," Lys finally dropped the grin, seeing how unamused he was.

"Do I honestly look like I'm in the mood to start laughing right now?" Xander asked her, his expression hard and flinty.

Alyssa didn't know what to say, as Xander stomped off towards his bedroom. She correctly figured that her boyfriend needed some time to cool off, so she let him go. "Oh my God. Guys," Lys scowled, muttering to herself. "What's the matter with him? It's not like I chained the man onto the rack and tried to torture him to death!! And it's not like he's gay. Still, it is nice to know that decent guys still exist. Now if only I can get him to let loose that Big Bad Hyena in him."

A little while later, after she'd figured enough time had passed, Alyssa called out, "Alex, what do you want me to make for dinner?"

"Dinner," Xander poked his head from out of the room. He seemed much calmer now, the Chosen One was pleased to note. "I dunno. How about Fettuccine Alfredo with some seafood?" he finally decided.

"Okay," Alyssa said, pleased that things were off to a great start.

"Want me to help you make it?" Xander asked, hoping they could move on from their little tiff earlier.

"Of course you can help me, Alex. Besides, how am I supposed to make your pasta the way you like it without you telling how you want it?" Alyssa remarked, a sincere smile on her face over the revelation that he wanted to help her.

It was that smile that won Xander over, resulting in him leaving his room to help his girlfriend prepare his favorite dish. Temporarily forgetting that living on the Hellmouth, strange things happen and it was not long after he helped the Chosen One by setting the table and prepare the marine ingredients while she prepared the pasta and Alfredo sauce, that Alyssa asked him if he could do her a favor.

"What kind of favor?" Xander asked, somewhat cautious of his girlfriend.

"Well, I was wondering if you could stop by the store and pick up some ginger ale. I mean, seeing that this is a special occasion and neither of us are twenty-one yet..."

"I'm on it, Lys," Xander said. "Anything else?"

"Yes. Could you also get some whipped cream?"

"Alyssa," Xander interrupted, seeing the red flag five-by-five.

"And a pumpkin pie," Alyssa said, ignoring his interruption. "You know, it would help to get your mind out of the gutter every once in a while, Alex," the Slayer added, laughing with mirth. "If you ask me, whipped cream goes well with pumpkin pie."

"Right. Sorry," Xander said, his face a slight red from embarrassment and his eyes downcast.

"Just bring them back and I'll forgive you," Alyssa giggled.

Grabbing the car keys, Xander left the apartment while Alyssa thought, 'His grandmother was right. Feminine wiles DO work, and maybe the most effective one of them is that the key to a man's heart is through his stomach. Too bad these ideas wouldn't be accepted for my essay by my Women's Studies professor.'

~*~*~*

Halliwell Manor, San Francisco, California. January 22, 2000 3:48 pm

"I hope this vanquishing potion works," Prue commented to her baby sister in the kitchen.

"I hope so too," Phoebe remarked. "I just wish we knew exactly what kind of demon we're dealing with. I mean he looks and acts way too human for my liking..."

"Well, it could be that we're dealing with a never-seen-before demon," Piper said as she and Leo orbed down from the attic.

"Find anything in the Book of Shadows?" Prue asked.

"Nothing," Leo interjected. "Of course, there is the possibility that he may not be a demon-"

"I highly doubt that," Prue said crossly. "I mean, why else would he attack you, Leo?"

"Darn right," Piper agreed. "Demon Boy needs to be taught a lesson messing with MY whitelighter!"

Phoebe watched the witch and the whitelighter make eyes at one another, sending a slight smile to Prue. She knew now that her initial attempts to compete with Piper for Leo's affections had been doomed from the start, but seeing her sister happy for once was enough to not let Phoebe dwell on that. Besides, her taste ran more into bad boys with hearts of gold...

And somewhere below in the Underworld, a demon named Belthazor received some rather...strange...orders from the Source of All Evil…

Still, here and now, the Charmed Ones knew nothing of that. "Okay, guys, let's finish this. Leo, orb us back to the demon's place. And let's kick his scrawny little ass," Prue asked her whitelighter, who nodded before orbing them away.

But unbeknownst to the Charmed Ones and their whitelighter, in the attic the pages of the Book of Shadows began to turn by themselves until they came to a stop. Which, if anyone was to look at it, they would see that the title of the entry was 'Succubus Alexastraza', with an illustration of a very beautiful demoness with demonic bat wings.

And on looking closely at the illustration, one could see that the succubus in the Book of Shadows looked a heckuva lot like a younger version of the grandmother depicted in the Harris family portrait that was next to the tome…

~*~*~*

Xander and Wesley's apartment, Sunnydale, California. January 22, 2000 4:25 pm

Returning to his somewhat empty apartment, Xander unlocked the door and was instantly hit by the aroma of Alyssa's Fettuccine Alfredo. It was only after savoring the smell of his upcoming dinner that Xander noticed that there was some seductive sounding music by Enigma playing on the stereo.

'Oh boy. Another red flag,' Xander thought. 'Christ, what I am going to do? It's not like I can just ask her to tone it down a little, Slayers DO have this tendency to get pissed when things don't work out the way they want. Plus I don't have any condoms, and with my luck we'll have an unexpected surprise in nine months. Maybe I should just act like a man. And hide!'

It was then that he noticed that all the curtain blinds were drawn, blocking the late afternoon sunlight and on the table, there were several lit candles. "More red flags. Nothing else for it to do but spring her trap, I guess," Harris muttered to himself before stepping into dining area, wondering how he would diffuse this particular time bomb.

However, the first thing that Xander noticed was that on the dining room floor lay the body of Alyssa Friedman, wearing nothing but a turquoise bra made of sheer lace, a matching thong, very strappy thong heels decorated with rhinestone chains, an apron that said "Kiss the cook" and various types of body jewelry.

Concerned, Xander moved towards his girlfriend and trying not to ogle her, knelt down and placed his fingers on her neck to take her pulse. To his relief, she was still alive but that still did not explain what had happened to her.

But before he could do anything else Harris heard glass break behind him; and on turning around he saw what remained of a broken vial and a green liquid a few feet away from him, with a female scolding voice saying, "How could you have missed him, Phoebe? He's practically right next to you!"

"Sorry, Piper," the one who had to be Phoebe said. "I, I don't get it, I threw the potion straight at him! There is no way I could have missed at that range!!" Phoebe retorted before taking up a defensive stance.

"Looks like we'll just have to do this the hard way, then," another brunette woman remarked to Phoebe before looking at Xander and squinting her right eye. However, nothing seemed to happen, which served only to confuse the woman and Xander even more.

"Prue! What are you doing?" the one who had scolded Phoebe commented.

"I don't know what's wrong, Piper, I..." Prue said, before squinting at lamp and causing it to fly at Xander. However, before he could duck, the lamp acted as if it had slammed into an invisible wall; because rather than hit Xander, it shattered into pieces in mid-air as if it had hit an invisible brick wall.

The woman named Piper then started flicking her hands at Xander, obviously expecting something to happen yet once again, but nothing seemed to happen - resulting in Piper also having a stunned expression on her face.

"Okay, this is getting too weird, even by my standards," Xander remarked. "Who the hell are you people?"

The Charmed Ones ignored the question. "What if we try the Power of Three?" Phoebe asked with her sisters nodding and they all began to chant. "In our time of need, we call upon the Power of Three to vanquish this vile fiend. The Power of Three will set us free. The Power of Three will set us free. The Power of Three will set us free!"

From all three sisters crackled a massive concentration of eldritch energy which flashed towards Xander, but before the magical energy could hit Xander, it slammed into the same invisible wall that had protected him earlier from the vase, giving off a bright blue glow as it absorbed the energy before dispelling it, much to the shocked surprise of the Charmed Ones.

"Well. That was...interesting," Xander muttered, before reaching into his jacket and pulling out his flail. "But enough's enough. I'm only going to ask you once, so get out of my house right NOW!!" Xander growled.

As expected, none of the girls heeded his advice but what Xander didn't expect was the closest one to rush him; nor did he expect for the guy from the previous night to teleport in a few feet to his left and try to wrest Apocalypse away from him.

Focusing completely on taking his flail away from him, Leo Wyatt was unprepared for Harris to slug the whitelighter directly in the face, causing him to lose his grip on the former weapon of Mephistopheles. But in doing so, it allowed Phoebe the chance to grab Xander's right hand so she could perform a judo throw upon him.

But the moment the youngest of the Charmed Ones touched Alexander Harris, Phoebe screamed, grabbed her head, and collapsed to the floor moaning in agony.

~*~*~*

"You should feel honored," in her mind Phoebe saw a attractive young woman say to the demon she had just attacked. "You're the first being to be sacrificed in this temple in nearly seventy years." Looking at her surroundings, Phoebe noticed that she did indeed appear to be in a ruined temple underground.

"Well excuse my lack of enthusiasm," Demon Boy said to the young woman in a sarcastic tone. "But y'know, having my throat slit isn't exactly my idea of a good time."

"Can't please everyone," the woman commented, smiling. "Besides, who said anything about slitting your throat?"

Phoebe then witnessed Demon Boy punch what looked like a Catholic priest, who just grabbed Leo's attacker by the collar of his shirt and threw him into the air, having him land on the altar and roll off of it, landing on the ground. However, while trying to get up, he heard something rumble and then Phoebe saw the demon reach into a hole in the floor. And as he got up, the witch saw that in his hand was the object of her quest.

"It can't be," Phoebe heard the brunette woman say. "After all this time? Caleb!!" the female called out, "Bring me the Instrument of Power that he holds. NOW." But the priest obviously called Caleb hesitated so the woman then said, "He can't hurt you with it. Only someone with certain qualities can use it, SO KILL HIM AND BRING IT TO ME," the woman said, as if regarding Demon Boy as an insect.

Phoebe saw Caleb stalk towards the demon who stood defiantly before him, swinging the flail and the woman said, "Didn't you even hear me, Geek Boy? Only someone with certain qualities can wield that, and you don't have them!"

"Yeah, well, what the hell - I'll take my chances," Geek Boy said, before he hit the priest with the flail Apocalypse: sending the priest flying across the altar room into the wall and onto the floor, surprising the woman.

Looking at the priest's broken body, Phoebe could tell that he was dead and she heard the woman scream, "IMPOSSIBLE! MINIONS. TO ME!!" she said, eyes narrowing and in moments, human-looking figures with disfigured, mutilated eyes and mouths attacked the demon. But with Apocalypse in hand, they never stood a chance and before long, Geek Boy had massacred the disfigured beings and he was reunited with the scantily clad red-haired girl Piper had put to sleep earlier and a cute-looking guy with glasses.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" the commanding woman demanded of Demon Boy.

"My date," the redhead said.

"And what have we here?" the angry woman said, before changing into the appearance of blonde woman. "Why of course, another necrophiliac Slayer. Let me tell you, the other one has certainly started a grand tradition!"

"Uh-huh. And exactly how am I a necrophiliac, seeing that my date actually has a pulse?" Slayer Girl sniped back.

"It's quite simple," the shapeshifter said, looking at Demon Boy. "He's a dead man walking. You may have won this battle, boy, but let me tell you, your life is over. You will not know rest because once word gets out about what you possess, they will come for you."

"Who?" the guy with glasses said, with a definitely English accent.

The woman shrank and was briefly replaced by the image of a huge horned and clawed beast coming at all of them with glowing red eyes and roaring before disappearing as quickly as it appeared while screaming out, "EVERYONE!!"

Phoebe had no time to ponder the significance of the vision, as the scene changed to that of an alley.

"Get away from him!" Phoebe heard a young voice holler out behind her, as she whirled around within her mind.

Looking towards the source of the voice, Phoebe saw a blonde girl of 15 or 16 years running towards her while a brunette girl appearing to be near the same age holding out her hand and saying "Ignis!" resulting in multiple fireballs appearing around her. Phoebe was amazed that one so young as that teenager could cast not just a powerful spell, but do so multiple times.

The brunette girl then grabbed a fireball and started throwing them one by one towards her but instead of hitting her, they went right past her or through her. Looking behind herself, Phoebe saw Demon Boy - Geek Boy - whatever the hell his name was, and his redhead companion, at the mercy of a blind woman who amazingly enough was fighting a fast and seemingly vicious melee fight with the blonde girl despite the older woman's disability.

With the help of the brunette girl though, the blonde was able to overcome the blind woman and get in a hit on the woman's neck, causing her to fall to the ground, drowning in her own blood. But not before Phoebe felt the ground shaking violently underneath her and noticing that the surrounding buildings also shook as if suffering through an earthquake. Then she noticed that she was the only one who felt the quake because Demon Boy, the Slayer Girl and their rescuers acted as if they never even felt the earthquake. But the really weird thing about this earthquake was despite its intensity, there was no shattered glass or car alarms ringing.

"Uh, thank you," Slayer Girl said, confused before the demon said, "Who are you guys?" equally confused.

"We're friends," the brunette girl said, looking at her blonde companion. "I'm Athena and this is my big sister...the Slayer."

"Doesn't she have a name?" the redhead asked.

"I have my reasons for not using it," the blonde girl said. "So don't ask. Just think of me as the Vampire Slayer."

"Sure you're the Slayer," Demon Boy said in a cynical voice. "Especially in light of the fact that the current one hasn't died yet-"

"Is there a place we can talk privately?" Athena asked Demon Boy and Slayer Girl.

Focusing on the conversation, Phoebe had momentarily forgotten about the blind woman and was reminded of her only when she heard her gasp for air and died.

"Good riddance," Athena said, without a glance or a hint of remorse.

"Please!" implored Athena's sister while looking around. "We can't stay here, and we need you to trust us," she insisted.

"My apartment," the male demon said, before the vision switched scenery on Phoebe yet AGAIN.

She was back at the apartment the witch recognized she was standing in, right now.

"Look, no offense and please don't think I'm ungrateful for the recent assist," the redhead said to the young girls. "But seeing as I'm not dead, and I haven't pulled a Buffy either, there's no way you can be the Slayer!"

"But I am the Slayer. It's just; I'm from the future. We both are," the blonde said.

"Not even remotely funny," Demon Boy said.

"We can prove it, Alexander Lavelle Harris," Athena said with a predatory grin. The observing Phoebe wanted to shriek out loud for joy - finally, she had a name for the enemy!!

"Okay, assuming this is true. How far?" the redhead asked.

"Sixteen years, more or less. Three powerful witches known as the Charmed Ones cast the spell that allowed us to come back here, to change the future - by saving your lives."

On hearing that revelation, Phoebe almost lost her train of thought. Why would they send these two teenage girls back into the past to save the life if this demon who had attacked their whitelighter? They had, or rather were going to be able to send two teenage girls into the past? It felt…good to know that they would get better in spellcasting. And that they would all live that long, of course but what was so important about this guy and the redhead?

"In our time Vanessa Brewer, the assassin you encountered tonight - killed you a few minutes ago, Xander," the blonde girl from the future said.

"Uh-huh. And why would an assassin come after me?" Xander asked, unconvinced.

"Because Cordelia's becoming an intolerable nuisance for the LA branch of Wolfram & Hart. They decided to send her a message, entailing what it means to cross them. But that's not the worst part - see, when Brewer killed you Xander, Alyssa went berserk. And that resulted in her killing that assassin with your flail."

"Really," the girl now identified as Alyssa said.

"Yes. Now, Wolfram & Hart considered Brewer to be a very valuable asset. After all, what jury would really believe that a helpless woman like that could be such an effective assassin?" Athena continued. "So after you killed that blind bitch, Wolfram & Hart got involved in prosecuting you. Both as retribution for the loss, as well as the fact that having the Slayer behind bars for a long time was an acceptable conclusion. But there were complications-"

"What complications?" Xander interrupted.

"The first was that Wolfram & Hart didn't count on your Aunt Lory becoming Alyssa's defense counsel. The second was that since the prosecutor had to spar with 'The Bitch', it didn't help his case much after she dug up dirt on what Brewer had done to those Nanjin monks, which resulted in Alyssa getting convicted only of lethal self-defense."

"Huh. My mom told me that Johnnie Cochran actually backed out of a case when he found out she was on the prosecution. I guess she really wasn't exaggerating," Phoebe heard Xander say with some admiration.

"But the most serious matter was the murder weapon itself," the Slayer from the future said. "Which also helped Alyssa's case, on account of the fact that the flail disappeared."

"What happened to it?" Xander asked, while holding up Apocalypse.

"Those government commandos, the ones I think you've met recently? They took it - they stole it - from the Sunnydale PD evidence locker, after Alyssa was formally charged with murder-two," the blonde teenager continued. "In the name of 'national security' or some other crap like that, of course. But in the end, their little theft really came back to bite them on the ass. Do you remember what the First Evil said to you, about never knowing rest?"

"How would you know what the First Evil said to him?" the redhead asked.

"You'd be surprised," the blonde teen remarked. "But basically, future knowledge, remember?"

"So what happened?" the Xander demon asked.

"We don't know for sure, but something happened. The details were never accurately determined by anyone on our side, but that government project of theirs was utterly destroyed. But oh, that's not the worst part," the brunette witch muttered.

"I'm almost afraid to ask?" Phoebe heard Alyssa say.

"A high-level demon calling itself the Source of All Evil acquired your flail, and made a play for upward mobility," Athena said, while focusing on Xander. Phoebe's heart, of course, almost literally stopped beating at hearing that revelation.

Athena then added, "It's just guesswork on what really happened after that, but it's pretty safe to assume that it failed somehow; because someone else acquired your flail."

"Who?" Xander and Alyssa said simultaneously.

"Another major player in the demon world. About six years from now? Hell literally came to Earth, with a powerful Demon Lord using your weapon. You see, in our time humanity is almost extinct. It's the demons who rule the world, despite their constant fighting amongst themselves," Athena said as if defeated.

And if what she had heard before had been enough for Phoebe Halliwell to almost have a heart attack, this was enough to almost give her a stroke!

"Isn't there any sort of resistance? I mean, aren't the people fighting back?" the redhead asked, a look of dread in her eyes.

"Yes, what few who remain, but everyone knows it's a lost cause and that we're just delaying the inevitable. We've lost too much ground to ever be able to win against the enemy. See, the demons you've been fighting up till now? They're lesser demons. The ones that are being fought in the future are a lot more powerful, not to mention bigger. I was told that years ago, a few days after the Hellmouth opened, the Joint Chiefs sent a large and heavily armed attack force into Sunnydale. But in the end every one of the twenty thousand troops were slaughtered by roughly two hundred and twenty demons. And that was in less than three hours," the brunette witch said.

"Even the magically proficient among us didn't stand a chance," the blonde interjected, as Phoebe's mind struggled to keep hold of its sanity after hearing all that. "Even though the Charmed Ones were able to cast a spell turning every Potential Slayer in the world into a member of the Chosen army, we're losing the war."

Again, her and her sisters were mentioned. Phoebe clung to that, trying not to go catatonic or completely nuts from this information of a future where the world was doomed.

"So by preventing my death, the future's been changed?" Xander asked.

"Hopefully, yes," Athena said.

"But why? Is it just because of this?" Xander said as he held up Apocalypse.

"How did you know about the assassination attempt and where we would be?" Alyssa asked.

"You told us," the blonde girl said. "Sixteen years from now. It was something you could never forget, Alyssa. After serving eighteen months in Stockton the Council managed to pull enough strings to get you an early release for good behavior, and then you resumed your Slayer duties. When the Charmed Ones cast the spell making me into one of the Chosen crowd, you became my combat instructor."

Again, her and her sisters were being mentioned, Phoebe thought to herself and slowly began calming down. Was it possible that the Charmed Ones and these people were destined to be allies, and everything that had happened lately was just one HUGE misunderstanding? 'But if so, why attack Leo? It doesn't make sense...'

Realizing she had lost focus, Phoebe went back to paying attention to the vision playing out in her brain. She heard the Athena girl say, "I can guess what you're thinking. But despite our actions in coming back to the here and now, there's still a big danger on the horizon. Xander, as you already know your flail isn't...ordinary. It's known as Apocalypse, and it used to belong to...well, a very powerful Demon Lord named Mephistopheles. After Mephistopheles was murdered by his twin sons Dagon and Baal, Apocalypse disappeared - but to this day a few demons continue to look for it. As the two of you have seen, not only is it immensely powerful but the right person who wields it is immune from missile weapons and harmful magic."

'Holy shit! No wonder we couldn't even faze him,' Phoebe thought briefly, before forcing her mind to focus yet again.

"On the bright side though, only a handful of high-ranking demons even know of its existence and even though they consider it lost, they still guard that information very jealously, despite the fact that only a select handful of certain individuals can even use it. You can't ever let it fall into the wrong hands, Xander," the blonde Slayer said. "Especially not those Demon Research Initiative types. They don't know what they're messing with. It's like handing a monkey the keys to a nuclear arsenal."

And there was the final piece of the puzzle, as the vision ended and the universe went black.

This Xander person had not attacked Leo because he was evil or malicious. He had done it because he did not want that flail to fall into the wrong hands; and from what these two girls were telling him, his hands were the only right ones. 'He's scared of that future still happening, kinda like in Terminator' Phoebe thought, lost in the inky blackness. 'Yeesh, it all makes sense now. And talk about a bunker mentality – but of course, anyone with that kind of knowledge would have probably reacted the way he did,' and with those thoughts, Phoebe felt herself lose consciousness.

~*~*~*

Waking up, Phoebe saw that she was being attended to by Piper and Leo while Prue tried without success to intimidate Xander into surrendering the flail.

"Are you human?" Phoebe asked Xander as she got up from the floor, ignoring the questions of her sisters and whitelighter. "And who were those girls?"

"Well, duh, of course I'm human," Harris replied, ignoring the shocked looks of Prue, Piper and Leo. "And what girls?" Xander asked, puzzled.

"The ones who saved you from that blind assassin," Phoebe said.

Xander's silence seemed unnatural before he finally said, "They were my sisters..."

"From the future," Phoebe said, finishing for Xander.

"Alright, I've had just about enough of this. And enough of you ASSHOLES!!" Harris shouted, brandishing his flail. The perceived threat to his sisters - one an infant, and the other one as yet unborn - was enough to make him drop the pleasantries completely.

"NO, WAIT!" Phoebe quickly restrained the others from doing something foolish. "He's not a, a...a black hat! And neither are we, fella, despite how it must look from your point of view," Phoebe said hesitantly, causing Harris to frown and lower Apocalypse slightly. She then offered him her hand and smiling nervously said, "I'm Phoebe Halliwell, and these are my sisters Piper and Prue; we're the Charmed Ones that your sisters mentioned. Oh, and that's Leo Wyatt, our whitelighter. Please, I'm not kidding about the whole truce thing; no more fighting if you don't attack us first, I promise. My vision just now...well, we REALLY need to talk."

The others all gaped at her. And then, as if to relieve the tension, the upper-level demon known as Belthazor shimmered into the apartment to retrieve the flail for his boss.

Hurling an energy ball at the whitelighter and the witches, the tall, red-skinned and tattooed demon made for the flail at once; but he didn't anticipate the guy holding it to try to smash it down on top of his head. The briefing he'd had for this mission had included the fact that the person wielding Apocalypse wouldn't stand a chance against him, since only a very few select group of people could use it.

Luckily for Belthazor it was just a glancing blow, not a lethal one; but still, the being that would have been named Cole Turner one day was crippled by Xander's weapon as the quarter-breed demon smashed the object of Belthazor's mission into the demon's right leg on the recovering angle after missing the demon's head, shattering the bones and so the red-skinned demon instantly shimmered out with an unearthly howl.

"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked Xander with what appeared to be genuine concern, as she and the others got up off the floor; where they had dived to get out of the way of the energy ball.

"Fine," Xander said, eyes narrowed. His protective tendencies somewhat heightened by the sudden demon attack he growled, "Alright, let's talk. But I swear to God that if you people have hurt Alyssa, you're not leaving this place alive..."

~*~*~*

Halliwell Manor, San Francisco, California. January 22, 2000 6:18 pm

"Talk about a strange but good day," Prue commented to her sisters as Leo orbed them into the parlor.

"Well, yeah, but at least we finally got everything cleared up - and to think that it was all a big misunderstanding! Oh, and that he also had the decency to apologize to Leo as well," Piper said, beaming at her beloved whitelighter.

"Still, the look on his girlfriend's face was priceless! That shade of red she had on her face matched her hair. But at the same time, y'know, I can't help but feel for her. She was practically baiting him for some wild monkey love, and we ruined it," Phoebe interjected. She was a little disappointed too that such a tender morsel as Alexander was already taken, but since it didn't look like his Slayer girlfriend would tolerate any kind of poaching it was best to consider looking for other fish in the sea, like that cute guy with the glasses she'd seen in the underground temple.

"Well, better us than that demon that interrupted our conversation. It's also good to know that we have allies in this fight, and that we'll also get better and more powerful years from now. But at least we know that Alexander's not a big threat to all life as we know it," Prue said with a shrug.

"Maybe this Alexander is not a threat," said the spirit of Penelope Halliwell who materialized in the parlor in front of her granddaughters, holding the photograph of the Harris family. "But this woman certainly is. Where did you get this?" the spirit demanded, indicating the mature, but still very attractive brunette in the photograph.

"Sunnydale," Piper said, noticing that the deceased matriarch of the Halliwell family seemed to be distraught.

"What's wrong Grams?" Prue asked, noticing that Grams seemed to be almost traumatized.

"This…this…bitch killed my whitelighter and tortured me in ways you can't even imagine. I still get goose-bumps remembering what she did to me," Grams said in a haunted voice. "She's in the Book of Shadows, and of all the things I ever fought over the years, no one ever caused me as much torment as she did."

"But you vanquished her in the end, didn't you Grams?" Phoebe asked.

"No, Phoebe. She was the one thing I was never able to beat, and then one day, she suddenly vanished without a trace. Until now."

~*~*~*

Xander's Room, Sunnydale, California. January 23, 2000 7:13 am

Waking up in his bed, the first thing that Xander noticed was that Alyssa's head was resting on his shoulder, and her left hand was on his chest, still asleep with a content smile on her face. Seeing her smile, as well as her nearly nude body, Xander's mind went back to the night of her disastrous attempt to seduce him.

After the misunderstanding with the Charmed Ones had been cleared up with the sisters leaving, with the one called Phoebe grinning, Xander found himself looking at his scantily-clad girlfriend, who looked very humiliated considering what had just transpired. She opened her mouth to speak but Xander quickly said, "Don't. I have to say, I have never met someone as persistent as you Lys. But to be honest, I'm very flattered by what you tried to do, and we shouldn't let that dinner you made go to waste," he finished up, pulling the chair for her before pulling his chair.

They ate in silence, with Alyssa finding herself warm despite her state of dress and aside from the occasional compliment of her cooking. Upon finishing, Xander walked up to Alyssa and taking her hand, took her with him to his room, saying to her, "Don't get any ideas..." which made her grin disappear, all the while smiling he smiled at the torture he was going to inflict upon her.

After all, she had orchestrated this dinner to seduce him - and what better way to get back at her for her deviousness than her having him where she wanted him but unable to do anything about it?

'Revenge is best served cold, oh yes it is!' Xander thought with a smile as he stripped down to his boxers and laid down in his bed, with Alyssa resting her body on his, a slight frown on her face as she saw that nothing was going to happen tonight, all the while probably thinking 'So close yet so far...'

For Xander, it had been a while in terms of knowing...the love of a woman, so to speak. But Xander Harris was no longer a child, and hadn't been for years; maybe never since his buddy Jesse had been turned into a vampire, way back in high school. But he had a man's needs nowadays, and a man's appetites. Even though Cordelia had been his first, both as a human as well as a vampire, there had always been the allure of what it would be like to make love to a Slayer. First his attentions had been focused entirely upon Buffy, but ever since the nightmare before his exile to Chicago his Slayer fantasies had switched allegiance to Alyssa Friedman, especially seeing everything she was doing for him. He waited an hour after she finally went to sleep.

'Am I really going to do this?' he asked himself, as he watched the red-haired Slayer's sleeping form. 'I know she wants it, and she is in trouble…okay, what the hell! It's not like she's going to get exactly what she wants,' Xander thought, slowly disengaging himself from Lys's stirring physical form.

Before heading south and looking hungry...

The memory of that night brought a wicked smile to Xander's face as he recalled Lys's surprised reaction, as well as the fact that despite her begging, he refused to listen to her pleas or begging to make love to her and trying as best he could not to sabotage his punishing of her.

And of course, she still wasn't off the hook with him. Still smiling, Xander let his left hand wander down to Alyssa's lower body, feeling his way to her crotch and using two fingers to slip her thong to the side, before gently using his fingers to arouse her, noting the smile appearing on his sleeping girlfriend's face.

~*~*~*

A basement, Sunnydale, California. January 23, 2000 2:00 pm

Going over the lines again with his chalk, Andrew Wells wanted to be doubly sure that he didn't mess up for this particular spell he was looking to cast, because the consequences would be potentially lethal for him if that happened.

Finishing his chalk lines, Andrew stepped outside of the summoning circle and looked over the words, preparing to cast his incantation. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Andrew Wells then began to chant the words of power that would bring forth that which would grant him his heart's desire.

The lights in the basement began to flicker on and off, and the lines of the summoning circle began to glow a purplish black before a large shape began to take form in the summoning circle, startling Andrew that he momentarily forgot to finish the incantation to summon the demon.

The demon was huge, with grayish skin and well muscled with two hands with large pincers and two clawed hands. But the feature that left young Mr. Wells filled with dread was its fang-filled, dog-like head.

With penetrating violet eyes, the demon gazed at Andrew, as if commanding him to speak.

"Why have you summoned me?" the demon inquired of Andrew in an unearthly voice.

"I...I've su...summoned you so that you…you could give me my heart's desire," Andrew said, trying to gather his courage to speak.

"And what pray tell is your heart's desire?" the demon said, using his telepathy to get a glimpse into the mind of Andrew Wells.

"I want Chloe Chase to fall in love with me," Andrew stated to the demon. "I want her to fall in love with me so much that I'll be all she'll ever think about, and she'll never leave me."

"Consider it done, but what do you have to offer in exchange for this trifle of a service?" the demon asked, smirking.

"Well…" Andrew started, before realizing what the demon was leading towards. "I have some money that I've been saving."

"And what, by Dispater's beard, would I do with 800 American dollars? It's worthless where I come from," the demon smiled, looking at Andrew as if sizing him up for dinner.

Andrew on the other hand, was a little freaked out. How did the demon know about his savings? "I also have some mint condition…"

"Souls are what interest me - so either offer me your soul, her soul, both of your souls or that of others and we have a contract!!" the demon boomed. "Comic books, collector's toys and money are of no interest to me," the demon snarled, losing its patience as it leveled its head at Andrew and growled at the nerd for continuing to suggest those items in trade.

However, the actions of the demon startled Andrew so that he slipped, smudging the one of the chalk lines of the circle and resulting in him saying, "Damn!!"

Noticing the chalk line smudged, the demon grinned and reached one of his pincers towards the hapless geek. However the demon suffered great resistance in trying to reach said geek, even if it appeared that the binding was not as strong as it was and would continue to falter and eventually collapse.

Realizing that this WAS a bad idea, Andrew grabbed the Book of Vile Darkness and started to speed-read the page about the summoning ritual to see how he could safely banish the demon back to where it came from.

"You're wasting your time, boy. State your deal now and join me when you die, or come with me today. Either way, you are coming with me," the demon taunted as it again tried to breach the summoning circle, one of its claws getting closer to Andrew.

Book in hand, Andrew then ran up the stairs to the side door to flee the demon, as the soulless fiend announced, "I do so love a good chase!!" before laughing.

~*~*~*

Sunnydale Woods, California. January 23, 2000 6:15 pm

"This is Alpha Team to Beta Team," the Initiative soldier's ear-piece radio sounded.

"This is Beta Team. Go," Beta Team's leader spoke over the radio.

"What's your status?" Alpha Team's leader inquired.

"We're having trouble locating our target. No footprints, no broken twigs, no sound. It's like she just vanished."

"Sit tight. It's over for us. Took us 42 minutes to find the target, and the target neutralized us in 28 seconds. We're sending in reinforcements because trust me, you're gonna need them," Riley Finn said over the radio.

"Copy that. Should take us that long just to find her trail," the leader of Beta Team responded. "Gansert, you find anything?" Beta Leader spoke into his mouthpiece.

"Nada, Beta Leader. Wait a minute...something's heading my way. Target might be trying a frontal assault," the Initiative soldier named Gansert said. Less than ten seconds later, Beta Leader heard the sound of what could only have been Gansert's stun gun. Telling his team to follow, Beta Leader moved as fast as he could to where Gansert was when Riley chirped on the radio, "Beta Team, what happened?"

"Just a bandit, Alpha Leader," Gansert replied. "Civilian wandered onto the grid and gave him a shock. Not my fault he ran towards me. Thought he was the target," the Initiative agent remarked with a laugh before he suddenly said "Ah, shit!" and the sound of a stun gun firing was heard.

"Beta Five, report!" was Riley's demand, hearing only Gansert's stun gun firing along with his frantic cries of "It's not stopping!!" before hearing a sickening crunching sound.

Looking at Buffy Riley motioned for her to run with him as he barked into his radio set, "All units converge on Beta Team's position. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill!!" while running to where Beta Team was. As the couple and the other soldiers ran to where the fighting was, Riley could hear the radio chatter from the other Initiative soldiers as they confronted their attacker and it was all sounding the same, with the soldiers panicking as it became apparent that their stun guns were not working.

"All units, this is Alpha Leader. What is happening? Report!!" he demanded.

"Big HST, Alpha Leader. Like nothing I've ever seen before. Gansert, Nelson, Torres, Van der Linde and Brand are all down, and our shock guns aren't…" the soldier said before static finished his report.

"This is Wolf Den to all teams," Doctor Walsh's voice announced on the radio. "Permission to use live ammunition granted, but try to take the HST alive if possible..."

Ignoring that, the soldier and Slayer raced to where the fighting was. Seconds later, the night was filled with the sound of gunfire. Arriving to where the conflict was occurring, the couple saw something completely unexpected.

Littered around the wilderness clearing were the broken, skewered and dismembered corpses of various Initiative soldiers and in the middle was a huge fiend with a canine like-head and four arms, but two ended with scorpion-like pincers. In one of its hands it held a soldier that, in a last act of defiance, emptied his handgun into the demon all the while bellowing a battle cry, but the unknown fiend acted as if nothing was amiss. To an observant person, it even appeared as if the demon was smiling. The demon then had its pincers grab the unfortunate soldier, one from the top of his body and the other below and exerting pressure literally tore the hapless soldier in half, flinging both pieces of the corpse at the remaining members of Beta Team who continued without luck to stop the demon.

Seeing the newcomers, the demon's dog-like head formed what looked as a smile, yet one that was diabolically disturbing and it rasped in a queer, wild voice, "Welcome, playthings."

The Initiative Soldiers let their training take over them and the air was lit with the sound of firearms and electricity, but the large gray demon continued to be unaffected. Raising one of its bloody pincers, it impaled another soldier to the ground and while laughing, used its other pincer to decapitate the struggling soldier.

Then both Slayers struck.

Emerging from a tree she had climbed to evade the Initiative soldiers, Alyssa Friedman jumped down onto the ground and ran at the demon, jump-kicking at the demon's back before unleashing a fury of punches at the demon's legs.

The fiend half-turned and looked down at the Slayer and striking like a cobra, used its pincers to try and impale the younger of the Chosen; but anticipating such a move, Alyssa back-flipped out the way, landing on her feet and then she back-flipped away more from the new demon.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Buffy rushed to join the attack as well, with the soldiers pursuing in hope that the girls would do a better job in stopping the demon where they had been unable to. Borrowing the junior Slayer's idea, the blonde Slayer too jumped at the demon's distracted back and kicked at it, before kicking yet again to propel her forward and attempting a final kick to the demon's head before landing next to the redhead. But like the Initiative's weapons, her attacks were ineffective against the summoned demon.

Laughing, the demon said, "It truly is delightful to have such willing sacrifices. Now, who shall be the first to die?"

In answer to the demon's question, came Xander Harris swinging his skulled flail and smashing into the demon's left knee, breaking it with a wet crunch. Instantly howling in rage and pain, the demon fell to its knees, exposing it to a backhanded hit from Xander, this time who hit the demon in the chest with his flail, knocking the demon onto its back. Swinging around, Xander brought down Apocalypse on the demon's right pincer, resulting in that appendage not just being broken but effectively blocking the demon's attack. Xander's attack had only lasted less than ten seconds, and the demon was down for the count.

Soldiers swarmed around the demon, seeking to restrain it, all the while Xander walked to his girlfriend. "You okay, Lys?"

Smiling, the Jewish girl kissed her boyfriend on the lips saying, "I hope this gives you an idea," after breaking the kiss.

"How about you, Buffy?" Xander asked his former friend.

Her response was just mute silence at what he had accomplished. Miss Summers had honestly never expected to see anything like this from him. To be honest, she had expected Xander to be either hurt or killed - yet he had managed to stop what none of them were able to do, and that kinda frightened her.

It had to be that damned weapon that no one had been able to take away from him yet. Buffy subsequently noticed that the Initiative soldiers were also looking at Xander, as well as his weapon.

"That was impressive, Mr. Harris," said the intrigued voice of Dr. Walsh. "Most impressive indeed. How were you able to beat that HST, when no one else could?" the blonde doctor asked, eyeing the flail.

"Lucky shot?" Xander said with a shrug.

"Perhaps, but I for one doubt it," Walsh said. "At some point I would very much like to study your weapon in depth, and find out why it was able to affect this creature when all our conventional armaments were completely ineffective," the scientist added. "But for now, I have this new HST to experiment on, so thank you for that," she finished before turning away to supervise her newest capture.

Walking with Alyssa next to him, Xander noticed that a group of soldiers were with the guy the demon seemed to have been chasing, trying to wake him up. Getting closer, Xander noticed a worn book near the unconscious guy and looked at it. Picking up the book for a closer look, Xander saw the title "Book of Vile Darkness" and laughed, thinking back to the magic item from Dungeons and Dragons he'd learned about whilst he was living in Chicago.

But knowing that he was on the Hellmouth, Xander opened it and as he expected, the book was anything but a D&D supplement. Not trusting this book into the hands of the government, he picked up the book and put it in his pocket with the intention of showing it to Wesley or Giles. Then looking at the unconscious guy who was slowly starting to regain consciousness, he tried to remember where he had seen him before, as it occurred to Xander that he looked like...

"Give me that weapon, Xander!!" the angry voice of Buffy Summers as she reached forward to grab the flail, her mind made up that such a weapon did not belong in Xander's possession out of fear of what would happen when he was killed and the demon or vampire that killed him took possession of it. His flail belonged in the hands of a capable fighter, namely herself.

Quick as a flash and forgetting all about the guy that was constantly asking out Cordy's younger sister, Xander stepped back and raised Apocalypse in a threatening manner. Before Buffy could do something foolish, she was grabbed by the rear and yanked backward by Riley, who was had seen what the flail had done to the demon just now and, not wanting his girlfriend to suffer a similar fate, wisely erred on the side of caution.

Lys nodded to the Alpha Team leader. "I guess it's pretty obvious who wears the pants, as well as who has the brains, in your relationship!"

"Why, you-!!" Buffy started to say to Alyssa angrily.

"Buffy, I have only one thing to say to you," Xander said, his voice suddenly as cold as the grave. "And that is, keep your damn hands to yourself from now on; or else I'll use this to smash them into so many itty bitty pieces, you'll wish I'd simply killed you already. And if you think I'm bluffing, guess again – you are no longer my friend. I don't even think of you as my ally. You are the daughter and sister of two people I care about, but don't think for a moment I give a damn about you personally anymore; we have too much bad blood between us, thanks to everything that happened during junior year and afterwards. Things that I'm sure you haven't told your new boyfriend about," he gestured with his chin to Riley.

"Buffy, what's he talking about?" Riley asked in confusion, glancing around at his comrades; who were also bearing witness to all this in surprised silence.

"Not here and not now!" Lys interrupted the imminent explosion of Mount St. Buffy. She grabbed Xander and said over her shoulder as they left, "We'll talk. Later!!"

Buffy Anne Summers - blonde super heroine, and at one time the one girl in the entire world Chosen to fight all the things that went bump in the night - wanted nothing more than to wrap her hands around Xander's throat and squeeze so tightly, he would die begging for mercy.

To her mind, there was nothing left of the best friend who Angel had brought with him into the tunnels to save her life and bring her back from the dead with CPR, all those years ago.

There was just a piece of filth that needed to be put down like the rabid animal it was, as soon as possible.

~*~*~*

Apartment B, 523 Oak Park Street. January 25, 2000 5:07 pm

'I should have known it was all too good to be true, that I escaped everything to do with summoning that demon too easily,' Andrew Wells thought miserably, as he squirmed under the collective gazes of Xander Harris, Alyssa Friedman, Rupert and Janna Giles, Dawn Summers and Chloe Chase.

Thinking back to the day before, Andrew could have sworn that he was in Heaven when Chloe Chase and her best friend Dawn Summers had approached him and Chloe had actually said to him that she wanted to talk…with him! She'd given Andrew an address where she wanted him to meet her at the next day, and also warned him not to be late.

Arriving at the apartment address Chloe had given him, Andrew had knocked on the door and was a little surprised to see the object of his earthly desires open the door and usher him in. But upon entering the residence, Andrew had been VERY surprised to see that in addition to his crush, there were others there and they were very interested in talking to him about the book he had lost and somehow ended up in their possession.

"Where did you get that book?" Giles asked Andrew without preamble.

"Uh, I bought it at the local magic shop," Andrew responded, hoping honesty would permit Chloe see him in a better light so to speak. Never mind that the younger girl was the little sister of Cordelia Chase; the heart wants what it wants, and strictly speaking Andrew wasn't evil, just - misguided, and basically a bit thick where it counted.

"Why?" Dawn's question suddenly drew Andrew's attention. "I mean, look at the title for God's sake! 'The Book of Vile Darkness'. It's pretty much self-explanatory about what's in it, right?"

"Well, actually, I thought it was a, um, a game book," Andrew said as he looked down sheepishly, suddenly finding the floor of Giles's apartment to be very interesting.

"A Game Book!?" Alyssa said in an incredulous tone of voice. "I find that pretty hard to believe!"

"No, actually, it's not impossible that he's telling the truth," Xander said, surprising everyone with his defending the geek. "The Book of Vile Darkness, that really is an item you'll find in 'Dungeons and Dragons'."

"You play D&D?" Andrew asked, suddenly taking a greater interest in Xander.

"More of a Warhammer and Starcraft guy," Xander said with a smirk, thinking back to his last match against Wesley, remembering his older friend's scowl over that thing with the Protoss and the Zerg last month. "But we're willing to game almost anything."

"That sounds cool," Andrew said excitedly. "But really, you should start focusing on D&D. I mean, you go through the door to the chamber of the emerald chalice and get confronted by Trogdor the Burninator. But you've gotta watch out for a ninth-level sorcerer invoking a time flux on Trogdor, with a wounded dwarf at his side, looking to lay the smackdown on your ass as soon as you grab the chalice-"

"Could we please change the subject?" Alyssa commented, images of her boyfriend, Wesley and now Andrew playing a game that she believed was for social outcasts and losers, not to mention would interfere with their relationship.

"Nope," Xander stated, ignoring Alyssa's request. "Lemme guess, Andrew. You like being the Dungeon Master, right?"

"I DM or rather, I am looking to DM," Andrew said, a little pride in his voice.

"Really? Well, me and my roommate do happen to be looking for a third guy to run us a campaign. I even got some decent characters…"

"Getting off topic, Alexander!!" Alyssa snarled, the possibility of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign getting closer and closer to reality. She glared at Andrew, who immediately wilted under the Slayer's harsh stare.

"She's right. So how did the demon ever manifest itself in the first place?" Jenny Giles asked, bringing the conversation back to its proper course.

Looking at Chloe Chase, Andrew said flat out, "I summoned it with a spell in the book."

"WHAT?? Whatever for?" Giles asked in sheer incredulity. "Dealing with demons is always fraught with dangers, and if you were actually able to summon a demon in the first place, then you should have KNOWN that! What on earth could have justified the risks, in your mind?"

Looking at Chloe, Andrew swallowed and said, "I...I, I wanted it to make Chloe fall in love with me," he said, trying not to sound as pathetic as he actually was.

Her eyes went wide, as Chloe suddenly realized to what lengths this fool had been willing to go in order to force her into doing something she did not want to do. So looking into Andrew's eyes, Chloe walked up to the wannabe demon summoner and slugged him as hard as she could directly in the mouth, knocking him off of his feet.

As Andrew rubbed his face, Chloe seethed at him, "HOW DARE YOU!? You EVER try anything like that again, and I'll get my big sister to kill you! What the hell, she might do that anyway after I call her in LA! My God, you dweeb, what were you thinking!?" Miss Chase demanded, before storming outside with Dawn following to comfort her best friend, but not before giving Andrew an equally venomous look of disgust.

Silence followed, before Alyssa asked, "So what do we do now?"

"What do you mean?" Andrew asked nervously.

"Well, it's obvious that you know too much about the demon world for your own good," Xander said, "so the question is, what do we do with you?"

"Well, I'd suggest we try to channel the lad's energies into something more constructive than satisfying his carnal desires," Giles said, glancing at the Wells boy. "Otherwise, it's obvious that he'll eventually cause some other kind of mischief - and more people might get killed. More than those who died needlessly last night, I mean."

"Good idea," Xander said, coming up to Andrew. "Andrew, let's get something straight - the only reason that nobody here's put a bullet into your skull, is because you didn't deliberately intend to kill anyone. But still, people died and YOU are indirectly responsible," Xander said solemnly.

"So you gotta make up for what you did, somehow. Do the time since you've already done the crime, you dork," Alyssa said in an unfriendly tone.

"Okay, whatever you want," Andrew said meekly, as his destiny veered off sharply from what would have happened after meeting Warren Mears in about a year's time. "But I can still be Dungeon Master on D&D night, right?" he asked.

"Arghhh," the red-haired Chosen One said with a groan, suspecting that nothing good would ever come out of this.

"Am I interrupting anything?" a new, but familiar voice said behind the group of people. Looking back, Alyssa saw a short, but ghostly familiar guy that she knew but couldn't place.

"Long time no see," said Oz, his eyes ranging all over the members of the group. He frowned upon recognizing Xander, but decided not to focus on that right now. He had just returned from Asia having finally learned how to leash his inner werewolf, and so had only one thing in mind as his priority. "Do any of you know where I can find Willow?"


End file.
